Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
News

See all MNHQ comments on this thread

Original poster

Tia Sharpe case

210 replies

phantomnamechanger · 07/05/2013 20:40

I had been wondering about this case ever since it first hit the headlines last year, as my DD is the same age as Tia
uk.news.yahoo.com/tia-sharp-hazell-took-photo-girls-body-163949011.html#R5Rq9Sd distressing details emerging of this case. poor child. I hope her killer gets a very very very long sentence. What a week, with this and the April Jones case. Sick, sick individuals.

OP posts:
Nancy66 · 14/05/2013 12:06

The family were referred to social services on a number of occasions.

Hazell had convictions for dealing crack. The grandmother has also admitted that he did drugs in her home and drank heavily. To suggest she didn't know what he was like is a bit of a stretch.

ThingummyBob · 14/05/2013 12:14

There are very high profile cases where the poor choices were made by very affluent parents NC78. Not sure of your point there tbh.

Social status and class divisions make no difference when a parent makes poor choices on behalf of their dc.

I can live with poor taste if even one parent reads the thread and makes a different choice for their child.

NC78 · 14/05/2013 12:19

Growing up around drugs is a awful environment for a child - her family are responsible for that.

They are not responsible for her abuse and murder. Any child can be the victim of a paedophile, it goes on everywhere.

BarbarianMum · 14/05/2013 12:19

Well he's got 38 years.

I am a bit puzzled though. The judge said (quoted on BBC News website) that he couldn't make it a whole life tarrif because he couldn't be sure the crime was sexually motivated or premeditated.

I can understand the premeditated bit, but not sexually motivated?? Are we supposed to believe he killed her for other reasons then just decided to abuse her?

If anyone can throw light on this aspect of the ruling I'd be very grateful.

fromparistoberlin · 14/05/2013 12:24

"if we just give the mother unquestioning 'victim' status,

Thats not what I am saying, and I do share some of the concerns Carpe said.

But given she (Tias Mum) has spoken publically about how she has been criticised very strongly for this, some sensitivity is in order

for all know she will have google alert for her daughters name, and given this thread is named after her daughter...

It reads a bit like expressing an opinion online (and they are valid opinions) is so important it trumps the feelings of a bereaved mother

anyway, 38 years minimum! Yay you sick fuck. Lets hope he dies there
and someone fucks him over in the showers

handcream · 14/05/2013 12:30

No one wishes this situation on anyone but we do need as society to try and address why this happens and where things are going wrong.

There seems to be parents, step parents, step gf, ex partners, other children, social services and drug taking in this case. But really I cannot believe as one poster said that perhaps the family didnt know his history - really!!

fromparistoberlin · 14/05/2013 12:34

I also think its intetesting that Hazell had a dad in prison, a prostitiute Mum and went to care homes when he was a baby

no sympathy, but the fact that prisons are chocca with people that ended up in care system depresses the fuck out of me

ThingummyBob · 14/05/2013 12:45

Yes we do.

Not just for children, but for victims of degrading and abysmal abuse of all ages.

To have a drug using career criminal in sole responsibility overnight for a non-related vulnerable teen girl is odd in any set of circumstances.

racmun · 14/05/2013 12:46

I feel heart sorry for Tia's family regardless of what her family are etc they haven't a daughter in the most terrible circumstances. It could have happened to a family which isn't as chaotic- their lifestyle shouldn't cloud a wide issue here.

It seems that they possibly did know of this man's criminal history but he could well have been selective in what he told them.

If he did have previous sex offences and he didn''t tell them ( I doubt any paedophile actually would) then how do you know??

That's the major problem non of us can just do a crb check or check the sex offenders list to see if someone is on it. That is was Sara Payne has been campaigning for, for years.

Paedophiles are cunning and some will work there way into a family for YEARS. If anything is to come out of this tragedy then surely they need to look into the whereabouts of paedophiles being known.

My SIL is a police officer and one of her colleagues at work felt uneasy regarding a particular neighbour. Anyway she did an off the record check and low and behold he's got previous sex offences on his record and is on the register. She can't warn her other neighbours as she'll lose her job but has just withdrawn from socialising at events he's at. How awful for her to watch him being friendly with children and their parents.......

jamtoast12 · 14/05/2013 12:56

The judge said "none of his previous convictions were serious and that he had a history of suicide and self harm" - there was no mention of any history of paediphilia until this happened. Tbh I'm guessing something happened fairly recently in their relationship as up until this point the reports all say that they did live as a unit and that Tia doted on him as did he.

It doesn't sound at all like he groomed her over many years? It sounds like a genuine relationship which turned at some point, presumably as she got older. It would be very very unusual for someone who has always had such interest in children to not have acted long before the 5 years they've been a family.

KittenofDoom · 14/05/2013 12:57

"I can understand the premeditated bit, but not sexually motivated?? Are we supposed to believe he killed her for other reasons then just decided to abuse her?"

I think the distinction is that some murderers get off on the killing itself, that's what gives them sexual satisfaction. Whereas others kill to stop the victim from telling what's been done to them. In thid case there wasn't enough evidence to show how or why he killed her, so he got the benefit of the doubt.

CalamityKate · 14/05/2013 14:29

Correct. It was on Jeremy Vine earlier.

It's the difference between killing her because he was scared she'd tell what he'd done, and killing her for sexual thrills.

carpe your posts have had me nodding furiously.

gymboywalton · 14/05/2013 14:54

i think we need to be teaching young girls to have high expectations too.

what would anybody see in a loser like him anyway? not good looking, a criminal, no job, not clever...and yet two women in the smae family had a relationship with him.

we need to be teaching girls that they should expect more-that they don't have to put up with being treated badly.
you see it on here-women with men who are absolutely HORRIBLE to them, and then they will reveal tht they have only been together 4 months or something ridiculous.

it's all do to do with self esteem-you need to feel that you are worth more to get more .

Nancy66 · 14/05/2013 15:06

gymboy - for many women it's about having a bloke, any bloke, and it doesn't matter how much of a useless waste of space he is.

gymboywalton · 14/05/2013 15:11

i know and we need to address that i think. we need to teach kids that it is better to be alone than to be badly accompanied.

KittenofDoom · 14/05/2013 15:22

I do not watch Jeremy Vine. I worked it out all by myself Grin

handcream · 14/05/2013 15:33

How I agree with you Gym. What are women doing with men like this?

I did have a close relative who was with someone who treated her really badly, verbal and we think physical abuse but we never saw any visible signs. Think it was more verbal and some pushing and shoving tbh but she stayed with him, started moving away from her family, lying to cover for him, and it got so bad that eventually we felt we needed to back away from the situation and leave her to it as it affected the whole family and she defended him all of the time.

Eventually he decided to end it and that was that. She claimed she loved him. Maybe she did, but he certainly didnt feel the same......

handcream · 14/05/2013 16:00

But at the risk of introducing some 'bloke' to your family? Not necessarily talking about this case btw.

Allowing your children to be with someone who takes drugs, has been in jail, and drinks heavily? Where is the reasoning behind it?

Its Ok to be a single parent. You will be supported. Why do so many women hook up with men like this?

Nancy66 · 14/05/2013 16:04

You can't apply intelligent, well-reasoned, practical logic to people who just don't think in that way.

You're talking about families for whom this is a normal way of life.

flanbase · 15/05/2013 07:30

I've been shocked by this case and how the sheer evilness in it. The poor child. I can't understand how the parents and grandmother allowed a drug addict and criminal into their family. I read that the drug taking in the family was well known to the authorities. Why are people like this allowed to be looking after children. What has gone wrong to have made families like this? The poor child went through horror. What will be done to sort out the other families that are like this?

CuntChops · 15/05/2013 07:34

There are thousands of families just like this, they don't turn to child abuse and murder.

If you took children off of every family with a man with a criminal record or a Mum with a history of drug abuse, the system would collapse.

flanbase · 15/05/2013 07:39

I feel sorry for the children living in households where the adults take drugs/drink/abuse them. This is so terrible. The children should come first in this. The children are the adults of the future and should be in nurturing and caring families.

NotQuitePerfect · 15/05/2013 09:06

Someone said the grandmother is on This Morning today.

Briefly saw the mother on Daybreak. She had 'no idea' he was dangerous Confused

RooneyMara · 15/05/2013 09:13

Oh God what are they doing talking to them on telly. like that is going to do any good.

Have these people got no dignity? Clearly not.

There ARE people who stay with men who attack them ,repeatedly, and I don't know why they stay. I was talking to ds1 last night about the man I left when I noticed him drinking too much and acting strangely.

We only found out later that he was a dangerous abuser, when the partner he had left for me got in touch 'to make sure he wasn't still seeing me' - he had gone back to her and she had allowed him back, indeed welcomed him. Despite years and years of him beating her up, even being arrested, and I have NO idea why on earth she would want to be with someone like that.

I thought he was great at first. But knowing what he is capable of - there's no way on earth that I would allow him near my children. I cannot understand people who do tbh.

CuntChops · 15/05/2013 09:26

It leaves a really bad taste in my mouth that the family are going on daytime TV. Fair enough if you're starting a campaign like Sara Payne, or Kate Mcann. Otherwise, it smacks of cashing in.