Murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp's mother Natalie charged over 'racist supermarket car park attack'

The mother and grandmother of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp have been charged over a racist incident in a south London car park.

Natalie Sharp, 33, is charged with racially aggravated common assault, while Christine Bicknell, 49, is accused of a racially aggravated public order offence, Scotland Yard said.

Police were called to an alleged disturbance at a supermarket car park in Beddington Gardens, Wallington, on 4 April, where the suspects had had an alleged altercation with an eastern European couple.

Sharp, of Canterbury Road, Morden, south west London, is also charged with common assault over the incident. Bicknell, of Torrington Square, Croydon, south London, faces a second public order charge.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said: "On Tuesday June 9 officers from the community safety unit charged two women with racially aggravated offences.

"They were Natalie Sharp, 33, of Morden, who was charged with racially aggravated common assault and common assault and Christine Bicknell, 49, of Croydon for a racially aggravated public order incident."

They have been bailed to appear at Croydon Magistrates' Court in south London on 4 August.

Bicknell's former boyfriend Stuart Hazell is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 38 years for 12-year-old Tia's murder, whose body was found hidden in the loft of her grandmother's home in Croydon in August 2012.

Police initially thought Tia, described in court as "a sparky girl who was full of life", had just gone missing, and despite several searches failed to find her.

Her badly decomposed body was found only several weeks later Described in court as Tia was murdered and her body hidden in the loft of her grandmother's Croydon home in August 2012.