Injustice victim Sean Hodgson is still in jail (From The Northern Echo)

Injustice victim Sean Hodgson is still in jail

2:00pm Saturday 11th February 2012 in News By Bruce Unwin, Chief Reporter (Durham)

A MAN wrongly jailed for 27 years for a murder he did not commit will spend at least another four weeks behind bars.

Sean Hodgson was freed from prison in March 2009 after his 1979 conviction for raping and murdering a woman in Southampton was overturned after the emergence of new DNA evidence.

Since his release, the 60- year-old, from south-west Durham, was convicted of sexually assaulting a 22-yearold woman in August 2010.

He received a three-year community order with supervision, as well as agreeing to work with a mental health professional, when he was sentenced for that conviction at Durham Crown Court, last May.

He was back at court yesterday for breaching the order twice – in late November and early December.

The court was told he has recently completed a tenweek jail sentence for two drink-driving convictions and two offences of driving without insurance.

Those convictions followed a collision with a bus in North Bitchburn, near Crook, County Durham, in August last year, and for an incident when he was stopped at the wheel of a car in Bedburn, near Hamsterley Forest, County Durham, in November.

He has remained in custody after the completion of the ten-week prison sentence pending the outcome of proceedings for breaching last May’s court order.

Reading from a report prepared for the hearing, Judge Christopher Prince said it appeared Hodgson has a personality disorder that may be untreatable at a psychiatric hospital.

He is also believed to present a high risk of causing harm to the public through driving offences.

Judge Prince said it appeared that Hodgson had also become a drug user and heavy drinker since his release from his lengthy jail sentence, and has indicated he had no intention of curbing his habits.

Judge Prince said: “When he is at liberty he absolutely refuses to comply with noncustodial disposals from courts.”

Judge Prince adjourned for four weeks to allow preparation of a further psychiatric report with a view to a mental health order being made.

He remanded Hodgson, of Hill Crest, Bishop Auckland, back into custody until Friday, March 9.