Tia

I can't even begin to understand and feel utterly bewildered when thinking about what people inflict on other people. I find it quite shattering.

I've not seen a lot of news lately so am a bit out of touch. Where are the parents in all this? I've seen an uncle and, of course, the grandmother's boyfriend but is there a father?

What a sad world this has become, why on earth would anyone harm a child.
Why wasn't the 'step -grandad' under surveillance and how did he manage to hide the body. Did her grandmother not notice any thing 'strange' about the house or garden ?
Lots of questions need to be answered.

merlot, the partner of Tia's mother is presumed (by the media) to be her father. Nothing is certain at the moment.

Lord help the children of such relationships.

I agree with all of the above. In my experience, so often when 'grieving' relatives are wheeled out to shed their crocodile tears, it is glaringly obvious that they are the perpetrators..there is something about their eyes and body language that shrieks 'guilty'.
An exception to this was the McCanns. And how terribly they suffered at the hands of trash pedlars like the DM. I was so sad for them having to put up with that when they were so broken.
Poor Tia.

Police have arrested Stuart Hazell

What , an exception to this the McCanns , they are the worst of the worst to leave their darling children alone , if they had lived on a sink estate, they would have got their just deserves, but no , they are doctors !!!! they could not possibly be guilty of wrong doing could they ??? [sad } for a darling little girl

Yes, good point nonu

Anagram the biological father isn't the man living withTia's mother.
There has been a photo of him in the DM.

I stand corrected, Ella - I was just reporting what I'd read.

It's all speculation at the moment.. I suppose it is possible that Tia's body was so well hidden that police genuinely missed it (rather than sloppy work)... if Hazell is proved to be the killer he , by all accounts, had a long time to conceal the body as the grandmother was out at work overnight.

Whatever ..the fact the child was not discovered earlier does not change the terrible outcome as I suspect she was killed early on. No doubt the truth will come out in time...along with all kinds of media hype along the way.

So many lies - she "was going shopping in Croyden" "she was seen leaving the house", "her phone had been left on to charge", "she was given money to go shopping" and so on. No travelcard? Not many people in London leave the house without one of these - Was nobody suspicious? Why was she at her gand mother's if she was going to be at work?
I despair and as others have said - God help children of families like this one. Remember Shannon Matthews?

AND the beautiful Madelaine McCann, RIP where ever u are sweet child

gracesmum 'Why was she at her gand mother's if she was going to be at work?'

Take the known context away and there is nothing unusual in the scenario. She was spending a weekend with her gran, who had a partner that the family knew. I have had my daughter's partner's kids to stay. Their mum has never met me or my husband & has only met my daughter a couple of times & briefly.

I do agree that it is extraordinary how easily people can lie and pretend in such an emotional situation... I felt that too when the couple, whose 6 kids died in a fire they are alleged to have started, gave a press conference! How do they do it?

There are some rum b****rs out there masquerading as normal people. Luckily the vast majority of us are well balanced and trustworthy and that's what we have to hang on to.

Even dysfunctional families suffer and feel loss at the death of a close relative, and particularly when it's a child. I imagine there is a lot of heartsearching going on in that family just now and Tia will be missed. No doubt the blame game is about to gather strength, but tonight Tia's mother is grieving for her child.

Yes nonu that is quite true, but the point I was making was that the McCanns were accused, by the Portuguese police and by the DM, of Madeleine's murder and they were patently not guilty of that.

There is a good exploration of the different way the media reports these situations, taking Shannon Matthews and Madelene McCann as examples, in 'Chavs: the demonization of the working class' by Owen Jones. I am not related, not agent, publisher - just found the book illuminating and it makes me fearful for how innocent members of Tia's family are going to be treated.

I would have been more impressed by book if it had been 'demonisation'

I for one , have my opinion of the McCanns , as many did

I'm not sure that the term 'working class' is really appropriate for these types of families any more.

Anagram It takes Jones 269 pages to consider the 'increasing poverty and desperation of people left abandoned by the aspirational, society-fragmenting policies of both the Tories and New Labour.' (from back of paperback editon 2011) People may not agree with, or like, his analysis but I found it so interesting that I read the book in one sitting.

Gone off thread - sorry.

grrrranny I find that interesting - I haven't seen the book but will look out for it. The people he is talking about are the people I have spent the last 36 years working with and I have certainly seen a marked change in their lives. They have not only been demonised by society in general but completely overlooked in social work theory which pays politically correct attention to every other marginalised group. As someone from a working class background I wonder what has happened to us. (I think the answer is in your post grrrranny)

nightowl I would be interested to hear what you think of the book. Perhaps you could start another thread (I am aware I have taken this one off topic) when you've read it.