Stuart Hazell was born on May 26, 1975, in the United Kingdom. His early life was marked by instability and hardship. Hazell's mother was a prostitute, and his father spent time in prison, leading to Hazell being placed in care at a young age. He claimed to have been raped while living in a homeless hostel at the age of 16. Hazell's criminal record included convictions for drug dealing and racially aggravated assault. He struggled with alcoholism and had a history of viewing paedophile material online.

On August 2, 2012, 12-year-old Tia Sharp was reported missing from her grandmother's home in New Addington, London. 

Hazell claimed that Tia had left the house to go shopping in Croydon, but there were no credible sightings of her. A massive search operation was launched, involving 80 police officers and the collection of 800 hours of CCTV footage. Hazell participated in public appeals for Tia's return, even giving an interview to ITV News on August 9, denying any involvement in her disappearance.

Despite multiple searches of the house, Tia's body was not discovered until August 10, when police found her remains wrapped in a black bed sheet inside a black bag in the loft of the home. The delay in finding her body was attributed to human error during the initial searches. Hazell was arrested that evening at 8:25 p.m. in Morden, South London, after a tip-off from a member of the public.

Hazell was charged with Tia's murder on August 12 and appeared before Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court on August 13 via video link. He initially pleaded not guilty to the charge. The trial began on May 7, 2013, at the Old Bailey. On the fifth day of the trial, May 13, Hazell changed his plea to guilty. The following day, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 38 years.

During the investigation, police recovered memory cards from the home containing images and videos of Tia, some taken post-mortem. The post-mortem examination could not determine the exact cause of death due to the body's decomposition, but it was suspected that Tia had been smothered.