Tia's 'a happy-go-lucky angel'

Missing 12-year-old Tia Sharp is "a happy-go-lucky golden angel", her grandmother's partner has said.

She has no problems at all and has not been involved in arguments, Stuart Hazell told ITV News.

Mr Hazell, 37, is thought to be one of the last people to see Tia, who vanished last Friday afternoon after saying she was going to the Whitgift Centre in Croydon.

She is thought to have been last seen at the house where Mr Hazell lives with her grandmother Christine Sharp, 46, in New Addington, south London.

Mr Hazell, who was interviewed by police for more than two hours on Wednesday as a witness, said: "She's got no problems at all, she's a happy-go-lucky golden angel, she's perfect. There's no arguments, nothing we can think of."

Mr Hazell said that, on Thursday night, Tia stayed at the house just with him, as Ms Sharp was working.

He said: "Me and Tia are on the PlayStation, which is nothing unusual because she's cheating all the time."

He said of Friday: "Basically I woke up in the morning, I come downstairs, done my usual thing, let the dogs run around a bit as they're asleep in their beds, make myself a cup of coffee, had a cigarette, sat down, watched telly, just everyday things, I guess.

"Sitting down here for about an hour, watching whatever rubbish is on, got up, went to the kitchen, started putting stuff away, then Tia comes downstairs.

"Tia comes downstairs, round about 10.30, 11. She'd been going on about going to Croydon and getting up early."

He said he started doing a bit of washing-up.

"She was telling me what she was doing, but I wasn't really logging it into my head. I cleaned the kitchen, then started sweeping up in here, then Hoovering, I've Hoovered the rug. Done all the hallway, had another cigarette, then gone upstairs, done the washing, made sure there's no washing.

"Went back upstairs and made the bed, come downstairs, by then Tia is coming upstairs to get changed. She was mumbling, I can't remember what about."

He added: "She's responsible enough to go to Croydon herself, she knows buses and trams. She's done it all on her own, it was just an everyday thing, but the one time you want to bloody listen to her and you don't."

Asked if she said anything when she walked past him, he said: "She said goodbye. And I said 'Well, make sure you're back at six', she went 'yeah, yeah, yeah' and that was it and the door closed and she walks out."

Asked if she had a front door key, he said: "No, I would have been home.

"No she doesn't, no, because someone's always here. If no one's here, then she goes to one of her friends, or neighbours, or someone like that.

"I know exactly what she was wearing. She was wearing exactly what she had when she come up here because I washed her clothes that night."

Asked what that was, he said: "It was a yellow, one of them tight tube things, grey, like, jeans but they weren't jeans - leggings? Chinos? Something like that.

"I'm not up on women's clothes but she had her trainers on because her Ugg boots were up there and she only had them. She was only going out to buy flipflops, she was adamant about buying flipflops."

Asked if she had a bag, he said: "She didn't have nothing, nothing at all. She didn't have an Oyster card because she lost that months ago."

Asked how she was going to buy the flipflops, he said: "Well, I'd given her a tenner, that was the agreement. When she's here for the weekend she helps me do things round the house, like do the back garden, do the front garden... oh, it still ain't done.

"So I gave her a tenner, she helped me do the washing-up the night before. I give her that then - it learns her responsibility and she learns how to do things, plus it's a bit of pocket money."

Asked about the Thursday night when the two were there alone, and if they had a meal, he said: "Did we have a meal? Yeah, because when we went to the Co-Op we bought these things - well, I bought them for Chris but then Tia ate them - three of these lollies, Nobbly Bobblys.

"She was going to eat the last one but I told her no, to leave it for her nan. Yeah, we had pizza and chips."

Asked if there was any conversation, he said: "She did, but it was just in one ear and out the other. It was more about she got hit by a bike and had a scratch on her knee or something and she wanted these flipflops... well, they weren't flipflops, they were these things that went up with a strap."

Asked whether £10 to catch a bus and buy flipflops was insufficient, he said: "No, because knowing Tia, she might have had more than a tenner. Her mum might have given her £4 and the day before I'd given her a couple of quid because she'd bought some sweets which are still in the fridge now, because in the Co-op you get three for £1."

Mr Hazell said he "loved Tia to bits" like his own daughter.