Jenny Nicholl Murder Trial
The trial of David Hodgson, who is accused of killing teenager Jenny Nicholl. David Hodgson, 47, of Olav Road, Richmond, denies murdering the 19-year-old in June 2005.
VIDEO
* Detective Superintendent Sue Cross speaks outside court
* Brian and Ann Nicholl speak outside court
* Reporter Joe Willis looks back over the investigation.
CASE CLOSED
'Who would hurt her? She got on with everybody'
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| Jenny was a keen musician |
The finger of suspicion began pointing at one man within days of Jenny's disappearance. Joe Willis recounts the day he met her killer.
APPEALS by police for information on missing teenagers are fairly common.
Usually, two or three days later, a second press release is issued announcing that the youngster has turned up safe and well.
The first short appeal expressing concern for the safety of 19-year-old Jenny Nicholl was sent by police on July 6, 2005 -seven days after Jenny left her family home saying she would not be back that night.
On the same day, it was announced that London had won the race to host the 2012 Olympics.
The following day's Northern Echo was full of the nation's successful Olympic bid.
Jenny's disappearance made only six paragraphs on page seven.
Two days later, David Hodgson went into Richmond police station to give a witness statement.
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| Guilty of murder: David Hodgson |
Mr Hodgson lived in Olav Road, Richmond, a short walk across a field from Jenny's house.
Earlier that day police had visited his home. He was out at the time. Officers instead spoke to his wife, Alison.
The visit was prompted by phone records showing numerous calls between Hodgson and Jenny in the months before she vanished.
During this first interview, the unemployed father-of-two denied he had ever had a relationship with the teenager.
It was the first of many, many lies he told.
Within days of Jenny going missing, the name Hodgson was being mentioned in the town's pubs in connection with the missing persons inquiry.
It was Jenny's friends on the Talbot Hotel pool team who first brought the Hodgson brothers to the attention of The Northern Echo.
Her friends were aware that before she went missing, Jenny was spending time with Robert Hodgson, the defendant's older brother. At least one of them guessed she was having an affair with David.
The surname was mentioned again following a bizarre incident on the moors above Richmond a month after the teenager vanished.
Sources said a middle-aged man had been found suffering from hypothermia in a crudely constructed den.
The court later confirmed what contacts had suggested -that the man was David Hodgson.
The jury was told that Hodgson had tried to take his life by consuming painkillers and three bottles of wine.
In the following weeks, the paper reported on every development in the investigation, no matter how small.
We spoke to Jenny's friends, published an appeal for information from her distraught parents and printed pictures of police searching huge swathes of countryside around Richmond.
We also made several attempts to speak to David Hodgson.
On my first visit to his home, his wife, Alison, answered the door.
She politely said that her husband was out.
When told that I wanted to speak to him about Jenny, she said: "Oh, the missing slut."
Standing on her doorstep, she said it was "not nice" for her seeing the teenager's picture on the television or in the newspaper, but did not elaborate further.
The court was later to hear how the defendant had admitted to his wife that he had been having a relationship with Jenny after he was questioned by police.
I made further visits to the Hodgson home in late summer 2005. Each time, Mrs Hodgson said her husband was not in, often apparently out walking his two dogs.
Then, in early November 2005, the media was summoned by police to the Holly Hill Inn, Richmond, for a major development.
Detectives had finally decided the missing persons inquiry was a murder hunt.
That afternoon I tried again to speak to Mr Hodgson.
I wanted to put to him the unrelenting rumours now circulating around Richmond.
The rumours went further than suggesting Hodgson was Jenny's secret boyfriend.
People were saying he had killed her.
As I sat outside his house summoning the courage to knock on the door, he and his wife emerged.
The pair got into their green Vauxhall Corsa and as I approached, Mrs Hodgson wound down the passenger window.
I put to her husband that people thought he had murdered Jenny.
I expected him to be furious, but he appeared more forlorn.
In a quiet voice with a strong local accent, he said: "Who would hurt her? She got on with everybody."
In our brief conversation, he went on to say she had run away and might be in hiding in the South of England.
He said he could not say more because he would get into trouble, and said: "I've already received death threats." He then drove off.
I saw him on several occasions again driving through Richmond, before he appeared in court charged with Jenny's murder. I saw his car more frequently, often parked beside the road on the moors above Richmond as he walked his dogs on the military ranges.
Often, police could be seen nearby on the same day searching for Jenny's body.
The court was told that the defendant had been married to his wife, Alison, for almost 25 years.
The couple had two children, Frances, 24, and Rebecca, 22.
The jury was later told he was receiving incapacity benefit following an accident while working as a landscape gardener.
He underwent surgery to his spine in 1991 and 1995.
Doctors said he had a degenerative disease, but was capable of carrying out even hard work for a short time.
As well as receiving benefits, he supplemented his income by selling golf balls he collected at courses in Richmond and Catterick.
The jury was told he would meet Jenny almost every day.
When not spending time with the teenager, he spent his days watching television, collecting golf balls and camping on the moors.
He spent his nights playing pool in pubs in Richmond and camping with friends or on his own in the woods and moors surrounding the North Yorkshire town.
2:01am Wednesday 20th February 2008
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