A child rapist who left a schoolgirl with PTSD after a campaign of sexual offences died only 18 months into his sentence for historic sex crimes, a new report has detailed. 

Paedophile pensioner Lawrence Hodge was found guilty of a string of 10 historic child sex offences including raping a girl under 13 and indecent sexual assault in 2021.

The 74-year-old's offences took place in Middlesbrough from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s starting when the victim was under ten, leaving her traumatised for life.

After Hodge, from Middlesbrough, was sentenced, he was initially sent to HMP Durham and was then transferred to HMP Holme House on April 7, 2022. 

In the late evening of January 30, 2023, Mr Hodge complained that he felt breathless. An ambulance was called and while he was being taken to the ambulance, he had a heart attack. The paramedics and a prison nurse resuscitated him, and he was taken to hospital.

At hospital, Mr Hodge had a further heart attack on February 4, but efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.

Hodge, who was clinically obese and had kidney failure for which he received dialysis in hospital three times a week, had a period of illness in late January 2023, which he labelled as "flu". 

But this illness escalated, resulting in him struggling to breathe and ringing his cell bell for medical assistance. 

Medical staff at the prison decided that he needed to be taken to hospital for assessment as his condition had deteriorated with pain across his chest and down both arms.

As he was being taken from his cell to the ambulance, Hodge had a heart attack and had to be resuscitated by paramedics using defibrillator and chest compressions. 

Most read: 

Get the latest news, sports, and entertainment delivered straight to your device by subscribing to The Northern Echo here. 

But four days later, on February 4, 2023, Hodge had another heart attack while receiving further dialysis. Hospital staff tried to resuscitate him, but without success, and he died in hospital. 

A reviewer from the Prison and Probation Ombudsman advised that Holme House's head of healthcare should ensure that clinical staff are aware of emergency codes and the need to call them when clinically indicated.

But the clinical reviewer concluded that the overall care that Mr Hodge received at Holme House was of a reasonable standard, whilst noting the need for nurses to call for an emergency ambulance, where appropriate.