Murderer Stuart Hazell spun a web of lies to hamper the police investigation into missing schoolgirl Tia Sharp.

The 37-year-old brazenly appeared in a television interview and denied any involvement in her disappearance and said he thought of 12-year-old "like my own daughter."

During the interview on ITV on Thursday, August 9 - six days after killing Tia - he wore a 'Missing' t-shirt, and appealed for her to come home.

The convicted drug dealer who lived with Tia's grandmother Christine Bicknell, repeatedly lied.

He said: "My previous has got nothing to do with it. Everyone's got a shady past. Did I do anything to Tia? No I bloody didn't. I'd never think of that".

Hazell, who described Tia as a "happy-go-lucky golden angel" told police Tia left his home at 12pm on Friday, August 3, to go to Croydon to buy shoes.

As the last person to see the schoolgirl alive Hazell complained during the interview that people were pointing the finger at him.

He said: "I know deep down in my heart that Tia walked out of my house. I know she was seen walking down the pathway, she made her way down that track. What happened after that, I don't know."

On the night Tia went missing Hazell cooked her dinner and accompanied Ms Bicknell and Tia's mother Natalie, in an initial search before going to Croydon police station to report her missing.

In reality he had sexually assaulted and murdered Tia, before hiding her body in his loft.

Even after her body was discovered Hazell continued his charade, protesting his innocence and blaming his neighbours in discussions with prison officers at HMP Belmarsh.

But his façade began to slip when he told a prison officer Tia had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck, a theory ripped to shreds in court by pathologist Dr Ashley Fegan-Earl.