Has the standard of English in the Police sunk so low

That they can no longer recognise the past tense when they hear it? Stuart Hazell (right), the step grandfather of poor little murdered Tia Sharp, constantly referred to her in the past tense during the police televised appeal.

I loved her to bits. She was like my own daughter.

I realise that, statistically, by the time the police resort to family appeals the missing person is likely to be dead. But for a family member to make that assumption is surely highly suspicious!

And it's not the only failing of common sense on the Met's part during this investigation. I simply don't understand how the body can possibly have been missed during the initial search of her grandmother's house. Surely the ability to search a property is a fairly basic police requirement? It may be that her body was only put there after the first search but that seems unlikely now. If it really was present during the first search then I think all concerned, including Commander Neil Basu (who has evidently been promoted beyond his level of competency) should face immediate disciplinary proceedings.

Maybe it's all irrelevant because the little girl was dead by the time Hazell made the revealing appearance on television but the stark possibility remains that he might have committed some further atrocity while he was loose on Cannon Hill Common.
And had that occurred I would say that Neil Basu should have been facing criminal proceedings.