“Can you get here in 30 minutes. You’re doing an interview with Tia Sharp’s Grandmother and stepdad.” This phone call from my LBC producer came the day after Stuart Hazell, Tia’s Grandmother’s ex-partner had been sent to prison for 38 years for Tia’s brutal murder. They hadn’t done any other radio interview, so for us it was a big deal. I knew the basics of the case but I knew I hadn’t got the detailed knowledge that any interviewer likes to have before doing an interview like this. My basic rule in these circumstances is to think what the listener would be asking if they had the chance. So I jotted down a few ideas and one of our reporters who had been following the case briefed me. Before I knew it they walked into the studio and off we went.
It’s probably the most awkward interview I have ever conducted. By awkward, I mean that initially a lot of their answers consisted of one word. Yes, or no. I didn’t blame them for being suspicious, and I had to bear in mind that they weren’t used to being interviewed. But I ploughed on and asked some pretty tough questions. The key one was whether we really could believe that Christine, as Tia’s grandmother, really had no idea that Stuart Hazell wasn’t safe to leave with Tia. She adamantly denied that she could have known anything. I pressed her and brought up his drug dealing conviction and the fact he walked around their estate with a machete. I knew he smoked dope in front of Tia, so I brought that up too. Christine seemed to think that was perfectly normal behaviour. I replied that wouldn’t be the view of mot normal people.
It became clear that the lifestyle this family led was one which Tia’s grandmother felt was perfectly normal and appropriate. The disconnect between that and what society regards as normal is clearly immense.
They accused the police of treating them like dirt, and maintained that if they been posh, the police would have acted very differently. I found this a bizarre accusation and reminded them that many of the police officers who had worked hard to find Tia would have been from a similar background. It was indeed very wrong that it took three searches of Hazell’s attic before Tia’s body was found, but that was surely an example of crass incompetence rather than anything more sinister.
When we played out the interview on my drivetime show the overwhelming reaction was that they had not covered themselves in glory. They had shown precious little compassion or contrition. In fact. A lot of people felt they sounded downright weird. One or two people accused me of sensationalist journalism and trying to be like Jeremy Kyle. It’s nonsense, of course, because all I was doing was giving them a chance to put their side of the story. If you’d like to judge for yourself, listen to the interview, and let me know what you thought.
listen to ‘Tia Sharp's Family Speak to LBC 97.3 – Part One’ on Audioboo listen to ‘Tia Sharp's Family Speak to LBC 97.3 – Part Two’ on Audioboo
