STUART Hazell told a shopkeeper and a dog walker he was searching for his granddaughter Tia Sharp moments before he was arrested on suspicion of her murder.
Victoria Dragnet told the Old Bailey in a written statement today (Friday) that she was looking for her neighbour's missing dog in Canon Hill Common, Merton, on August 10 2012 when she unwittingly encountered Hazell.
The body of Tia Sharp had been found earlier that day in the property Hazell shared with her grandmother, Christine Bicknell, in The Lindens, New Addington.
Ms Dragnet was unaware police were searching for Hazell in connection with the death, and says she asked him whether he had seen the dog.
Hazell, 37, who denies murder, shouted: 'I have got more important things to do than look for a ******* dog.
"I am trying to look for my granddaughter. She is missing."
Ms Dragnet continued: "He repeated that he was looking for Tia Sharp, the girl who had gone missing."
Hazell seemed "agitated" and "high", she said, adding: "He made me feel uncomfortable to the point that I just wanted to get away."
The court also heard from the owner of a convenience store on Canon Hill Lane where Hazell bought vodka and a lighter.
Prasanna Jayakumar said: "He told me he was looking for his granddaughter and he said if you see or hear anything, even if it is very little and does not make any sense to me, that I could tell him and let him know."
He was holding his head in his hands as he spoke.
Hazell had left his house in The Lindens early that morning and had not been seen since.
CCTV described in court today showed him at a petrol garage close to his house at 7am, then boarding the 407 bus to Purley.
The CCTV then showed him travelling through Streatham and topping up his Oyster card at Waterloo. He was then seen at Raynes Park Station at 2.04pm, and at 5pm in Cannon Hill Lane.
Hazell was arrested after a police helicopter search in which he was seen hiding in the undergrowth in Cannon Hill Common.
In the police car on the way to the station, he said: "Murder? I cannot believe it. I was only trying to have a piss in the bushes."
A letter he sent to his father, Keith Hazell, from Belmarsh prison was also read out today.
In it, Hazell asked his father to send a little bit of money, said he "sorry" and Tia's death was "an accident."
He added: "I think about taking my own life because if I don't someone else will that is definite. I am classed as a prisoner; I never thought this would happen.
"I hope you are not getting aggro from me - you know I am not a bad person.
"Christine got arrested she has nothing to do with this - I loved her with all my heart and soul.
"God I hate myself. I should have gone about this a different way and told police everything.
"They are trying to say it was sexual, but I promise it was not.
" I have got money, no hope, no fags. It is the Hazell curse and I have only got myself to blame.
"I just want you to know I love you all."
