The man who murdered 12-year-old English schoolgirl Tia Sharp has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years.
Stuart Hazell, 37, changed his plea on the fifth day of his trial at the Old Bailey in London yesterday.
Tia's family had to sit through days of shocking and graphic evidence, including a picture of her taken after she died. Hazell had claimed that Tia was killed in an accident when she fell down the stairs.
However, prosecutors said he sexually assaulted her before murdering her and hiding her body in the loft of the home that he shared with her grandmother.
Hazell, a convicted drug dealer, had lived with Christine Bicknell in New Addington, south London, for more than five years before Tia died.
Mr Justice Nicol said: "She was a sparky girl who was full of life but you took that life from her. All that lay ahead of her - a career, loves and family of her own - will now never be.
"And the loss of her has been devastating for her mother, her father and all her relatives and friends.
"The tragedy of their loss and her death is because of your act in murdering Tia Sharp. You are responsible."
Among the details that emerged during the trial was that the window cleaner, who had previously briefly dated Tia's mother Natalie Sharp, had developed a sexual attraction for the schoolgirl.
Hazell murdered Tia when the pair were left alone on 2 August last year at the New Addington house while Ms Bicknell worked a night shift.
After he murdered the 12-year-old, Hazell wrapped her body in a sheet and layers of plastic and hid it in the loft.
The body was not found until a week after Tia died due to two failed police searches of the loft, for which Scotland Yard has since apologised.
