Tia Sharp's mother and grandmother charged with race attack three years after schoolgirl's murder

The pair stand accused of attacking a woman in a south London supermarket

Natalie Sharp appears in court charged with a racially motivated attack (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The mother and grandmother of murdered schoolgirl Tia Sharp are due to stand trial accused of a racially aggravated attack on a woman in a south London supermarket.

Natalie Sharp,33, and Christine Bicknell, 49 appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Ms Sharp is accused of aggravated common assault. She is alleged to have shouted at the woman and pushed her in the face, leaving her with bruises in an incident at a Lidl store in Wallington, south London, in April this year.

Ms Bicknell, 49, was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence. She is accused of making racist comments during the alleged incident.

Tia Sharp was 12 when she was murdered by Stuart Hazell (PA)

The pair have elected to have their case go to a trial at Croydon Crown Court and were released on conditional bail to make their first appearance at the court on 18th August.

They made no comment as they left court.

Tia Sharp was 12 when she was murdered by Ms Bicknell’s former partner Stuart Hazell and hidden in the loft of their home.

Hazell was sentenced to a minimum of 38 years in prison at the Old Bailey in May 2013 after the judge concluded he had breached the trust placed in him “in the most grievous way possible”.

Hazell was sentenced to a minimum of 38 years in prison (PA)

The 37-year-old, who was a convicted drug dealer and claimed he had suffered sexual abuse as a child, changed his plea to guilty on the fifth day of his trial.