Stuart Hazell begged for forgiveness and said he was victim of 'the Hazell curse' in a letter to his dad, a court heard today.

In a letter sent to Keith Hazell from Belmarsh prison on August 15, last year, Mr Hazell told his dad what happened to his partner's granddaughter Tia Sharp was an accident.

In the letter the 37-year-old who is accused of murder told his dad he panicked and would be paying for his stupidity for the next 15 to 18 years.

The letter read: "I regret it every second of everyday and there's nothing I can do about it.

"I think about taking my own life because if I don't someone will that is a definite."

Mr Hazell's letter continued: " I'm sorry to of lied to you all but I didn't know what to do.

"Christine got arrested she had 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, told the police everything."

Mr Hazell also wrote that he wanted to kill himself and asked his dad to send him money.

He said: "I have no money, no fags, no hope-it's the Hazell curse."

In the letter which was intercepted by prison authorities, Mr Hazell said he knew Christine and her family would never forgive him and asked God for mercy.

Read the letter in full here.

This morning the statement of shopkeeper Prasanna Jayakumar was read out in court. Mr Hazell bought two bottles of vodka and two lighters from her shop while police were looking for him.

She said: "He told me he was looking for his granddaughter and was asking me to help find her and if I saw or heard anything to tell him.

"I said I would help him if I heard anything. While he was saying this he was knocking his hands against his head.

"It looked like he was struggling to cope-he mumbled she hadn't been home to eat her dinner."

A dog walker who saw Mr Hazell on Cannon Hill Common shortly before his arrest described him as looking "off his face."

Victoria Dragnet was looking for her friend's dog and when she asked Mr Hazell for help, he said: "I have more important things to f****** do than look for a f****** dog."

Forensic scientist Daniel Beaumont also gave evidence and told jurors a 'small, heavy stain" of Tia's blood was found on a belt that belonged to Hazell.

Mr Beaumont told the court there was a billion to one chance the blood found did not belong to Tia.

Mr Hazell denies murder.

The case continues.