After a week of investigation, massive community involvement and four searches of her grandmother's house, police looking for the missing 12-year-old Tia Sharp found a body yesterday, and there has been surprise that it took so long for the police to uncover it.

Colin Sutton, former senior investigating officer with the Metropolitan Police, told the Today programme that "what was in play was a very difficult balance between the sensitivities of the family... and conducting the search to an extent that would find a well-concealed body."

"It is a very very difficult balance to strike," he said.

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