Some thoughts that have occurred to me today, as I have been driving round south London working and spotting posters of Tia here and there.....
One of the earliest reports stated her own phone was broken so she had borrowed her mum's. Now, I can understand her not taking mum's phone out with her - none of her pals contact numbers would be on it. This could explain leaving her phone at home.
I am not surprised she was allowed to go into Croydon alone. Her school is a 7 mile journey from her home and yet the Whitgift Centre is a mere 2.5 miles. This is a very built up area of South London (as all of south London is) with one district running into the next, and has quite a different feel to the small town her grandmother lives in. My family are from SE London and the kids there are waaaaay more street savvy than my own who have been brought up in small villages in rural Kent.
With regard to the British press and who to trust.....
I am fairly confident with the Telegraph, BBC and the Guardian (to some extent). eta Local papers, eg thisiscroydontoday.co.uk are generally fairly good too, but often a little behind on the latest events.
The Sun, Mirror and Daily Mail are sensationalist and court controversy with gay abandon. They will not let facts get in the way of a good story, although my general view is that journalists, lawyers and estate agents all crawled from very similar ponds. JMO