The killer of Mitcham schoolgirl Tia Sharp claims his 38 year sentence was unfair and wants his lawyers to get his jail term reduced.

Stuart Hazell was last month jailed for life with a minimum of 38 years for killing his partner's 12 year-old granddaughter at his home in The Lindens, New Addington.

Last week the 37-year-old reportedly wrote to his father Keith, stating he wanted his lawyers to lodge papers with the Court of Appeal in a bid to get a shorter term.

Hazell's grandmother, Ruby Tilley, told the Daily Mirror: "My son had a letter from Stuart saying the sentence was too harsh and he wants to appeal.

"He is not getting on well with other prisoners which isn't surprising I suppose, considering what he's done.

"He said in the letter he is sorry for what he did and he would understand if the family disowned him.

"He will be 75 when his sentence ends. The feeling is he is not going to come out of prison alive, one way or another."

Hazell, who changed his plea five days into the murder trial, claimed Tia had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck and he had hid her body in the loft because he panicked.

But the convicted drug dealer sexually assaulted and murdered the Raynes Park High School pupil when she came to stay with him and her grandmother on August 3, last year.