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

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David Hodgson

KILLER David Hodgson was branded a devious liar before he was led away from the dock to start a minimum 18-year life sentence yesterday for the murder of Jenny Nicholl.

Trial judge Mr Justice Openshaw accused the 48-yearold of lying to police throughout their investigation, and to the jury during the case.

He said the cruel concealment of Jenny Nicholl's body had deprived her family of the opportunity of laying her to rest and prolonged their anguish.

And he said Hodgson's claims that Jenny ran away from home to escape her abusive father were "without the slightest shred of supporting evidence".

In a statement, retired Army major Mr Nicholl branded as "ludicrous and vile" the defence argument put forward by his daughter's killer.

Mr Justice Openshaw added: "It is entirely untrue - being just another of the defendant's devious and elaborate deceits."

The judge described as "entirely overwhelming" the evidence which suggested Hodgson killed Jenny on the night they both went camping.

He said it was impossible to know why, how or where Hodgson murdered Jenny, but speculated it was near their chosen camping spot.

"The defendant's concealment of her body has prolonged the anguish and agony of her family and friends as they waited for news of her fate," said Mr Justice Openshaw.

"After he killed her, the defendant retained her mobile phone and on two separate days sent bogus text messages from the phone - as if from her - first to her friends and then to her father, cruelly pretending that she was still alive and that she had run away.

"He was, of course, intending, thereby, to prevent the missing person inquiry turning into a murder investigation.

"Naturally, her family found any slight hope that the messages might be genuine and so their uncertainty extended from weeks to months, until the gradual realisation that she must be dead, and then that she had been murdered.

"Even now, they have been denied such solace as can be found from a funeral and from providing for her a decent, dignified and reverent disposal of her remains as they wish.

"I do not doubt that the thought that she is lying somewhere up on the moors will continue to inflict further pain on her long-suffering family. The defendant has shown not the slightest regret or remorse."

Jamie Hill, QC, defending, told the court: "Given the stance he has maintained throughout the trial, and continues to maintain, it would be inappropriate for me to say anything about the offence itself."

The judge said he rejected entirely Hodgson's claims that he did not have sex with Jenny until several months before she disappeared and that it was just five times.

He said: "It is quite clear that there has been a long-standing clandestine relationship between the two of them over a number of years.

"There is a good deal of evidence that sexual intercourse between them started when Jenny was still at school and, indeed, when she was well under 16.

"I am sure that they had been in a long-standing sexual relationship, at least for two years and probably a good deal longer than that.

"The defendant was in the habit of camping in a number of derelict sheds and hides in the Sandbeck Plantation, a mile or so outside Richmond.

"Despite the defendant's denials, I have no doubt that he and Jenny spent much time together there, including overnight. These visits occurred several times a week and continued up to her death."

Mr Justice Openshaw said it was obvious that Jenny and Hodgson had arranged to spend the night camping on June 30, 2005 - the last time she was seen alive.

"Where he has hidden and disposed of the body only the defendant knows, because on these matters he has remained silent."

And he added: "No doubt, he buried her somewhere in the woods or threw her body down one of the many potholes or mineshafts which are found throughout Swaledale. The defendant then casually returned home in the morning greeting his wife as if nothing had happened."

10:26am Thursday 21st February 2008

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