A mother who murdered her toddler on the day his father was applying to the Family Court to have more contact has been jailed for life with a minimum term of more than 18 years. Carol Hodgson, 40, used a plastic bag to smother two-year-old Daniel Hodgson Green at her home in Upper Garth Gardens, Guisborough, North Yorkshire, and then tried to kill herself, leaving notes for her family.
The boy’s heartbroken father Stefan Green read a victim impact statement at Teesside Crown Court before his former partner was sentenced, expressing how much he wanted to be part of his son’s life, but that Hodgson had cut off all contact when Daniel was a baby.
Mr Green had attended the same court buildings on February 2 this year, expecting there to be a fact-finding family court hearing into the background of the dispute, only to be told his son had been killed. In his moving statement, Mr Green told the judge: “I wish I could say more on Daniel’s personality but we only knew him as a baby before Carol disappeared with him and cut off all contact.
