Tia gran arrested

THE gran of Tia Sharp has been arrested today on suspicion of the schoolgirl's murder.

Christine Sharp was nicked by cops the morning after her lover Stuart Hazell was also pinched - another man was also held on suspicion of assisting an offender.

The arrests come after police investigating Tia's disappearance discovered the 12-year-old’s body in her nan’s loft.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "A 46-year-old woman was detained on suspicion of murder and a 39-year-old man on suspicion of assisting an offender."

Hazell, 37, was cornered in a park last night after the grim discovery in New Addington, Croydon, South London.

Tia had been missing for seven days after a visit to Sharp's house last Friday.

Convicted crack dealer Hazell disappeared hours before a search began at 46-year-old Sharp's terraced council estate home yesterday afternoon.

Tragic ... Tia was found dead in gran's loft

Police warned people he could be dangerous and not to approach him.

He was held on suspicion of murder after a member of the public spotted him at Cannon Hill Common, a park in Merton, around ten miles from New Addington.

He was then pin-pointed hiding under a log by a police helicopter using a thermal-imaging camera.

A witness said Hazell was “completely drunk and out of it”.

On Thursday, Hazell sobbed during a TV appeal for Tia’s return. The day before that police quizzed him as a witness.

Around midnight police moved Tia’s body from the house.

Cops faced criticism for not finding Tia sooner and letting Hazell go on the run. Tempers flared as 150 people gathered outside.

Lover ... Hazell was arrested on Friday night

One man shouted at cops: “Why didn’t you stop him? Weren’t you watching him?” Marcia Linton, 47, added: “To think, she's been in that house all that time.”

Tia’s real grandad Paul Sharp, 49, said: “A piece of my heart has been torn out. Tia was a beautiful, happy little girl.”

Tia’s mum Natalie, 31, was being comforted last night by her partner David Niles, 29.