‘I am gone, I am so sorry’: Chilling note that mother left her family after suffocating her two-year-old son to death with plastic bag to stop him seeing his father then trying to kill herself is revealed as she is jailed for life
- Carol Hodgson, 40, smothered son Daniel Hodgson Green at home in Yorkshire
- She then tried to kill herself and left a note for her mother saying: ‘I am so sorry’
- In other notes she said the only way to protect Daniel was to ‘take him with her’
A mother who left a chilling note before murdering her two-year-old son to stop him from having more contact with his father has been jailed.
Carol Hodgson, 40, used a plastic bag to smother her son Daniel Hodgson Green at her home in Upper Garth Gardens, Guisborough, North Yorkshire, and then tried to kill herself.
Alistair MacDonald QC, prosecuting, said the notes she left for her mother and other family members indicated she had planned the murder.
Her mother found a note saying: ‘Mama, sorry. You don’t want to see this, just ring the police! I am gone, I am so sorry. I love you.’
Carol Hodgson, 40, used a plastic bag to smother her son Daniel Hodgson Green at her home in Upper Garth Gardens, Guisborough, North Yorkshire, and then tried to kill herself
Hodgson was found with two wounds to her neck and bloody kitchen knife lay nearby. Other notes were recovered in which she said that the only way for her to protect Daniel was to ‘take him with her’.
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.
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 (pictured) was a baby
Her mother found a note saying: ‘Mama, sorry. You don’t want to see this, just ring the police! I am gone, I am so sorry. I love you’
‘He was my entire world, the day he was born I truly knew what love was, I knew what it felt like to have a higher purpose, to do everything within my power to give him the best life, one full of love and happiness.’
He added: ‘He was taken before he could know who he was, what he wanted to do with his life, and how much he meant to so many people.’
The emergency services arrived at Hodgson’s home to find her mother performing CPR on her in her bedroom, with a paramedic then noticing Daniel lying lifeless next to his mother.
Desperate attempts were made to save him at the scene and in hospital, but these were in vain.
Hodgson had inflicted cuts to her own neck and asked to be left to die, but she was taken to hospital and survived.
Alistair MacDonald QC, prosecuting, said the notes she left for her mother and other family members indicated she had planned the murder.
He said Mr Green had been deprived of contact since early 2020 when Hodgson moved, but did not provide him with her new address.
Mr Green was applying to have more access to his son and to stop her changing his surname, relocating or taking him on holiday without notifying him.
Mr MacDonald said: ‘It is no coincidence that she carried out the killing on the very morning the Family Court was due to hold a fact-finding hearing.’
Richard Wright QC, defending, said it was accepted by others that Hodgson loved her son and had shown genuine remorse.
He added: ‘The only explanation was she had developed a whole irrational and objectively unjustifiable but genuinely held belief that she was compelled to act as she did.’
Heartbroken Mr Green spoke outside Teesside Crown Court today to say of Daniel: ‘He was my entire world, the day he was born I truly knew what love was, I knew what it felt like to have a higher purpose, to do everything within my power to give him the best life, one full of love and happiness’
Judge Paul Watson QC jailed her for life with a minimum term of 18 years and four months, saying the crime was aggravated by Daniel’s vulnerability, the abuse of trust and the premeditation, but mitigated by her guilty plea to murder.
He said: ‘It was not an act of mercy.
‘It was a horrifying and truly awful crime.
‘The fact that you genuinely intended to take your own life as well, which I accept to be true, offers no mitigation for the taking of Daniel’s.’
Daniel’s father also attended court for the sentencing and read an emotional victim impact statement. He said: ‘He was my entire world. I used to call him my little star. I miss hearing him laugh and holding him in my arms.
‘The shocking nature of the loss has made everything worse. I now suffer with PTSD and night terrors. I haven’t been able to work and have been on the sick since it all happened. My mam and dad have been broken to the core. Even friends of the family have been hit hard.
‘Some days I find myself thinking it maybe easier if I wasn’t here any longer. I never got to see his first steps or hear his first words all of that was stolen from me.’
Outside court Mr Green said: ‘We never got to make a connection with my son, never got to see his first steps, hear his first words, and now because of the actions of an evil person, a person who should have been one of the two people who he should have felt safest with, there is an entire lifetime of firsts lost.’
Detective Inspector Matt Hollingsworth, Senior Investigating Officer from the Cleveland Police Homicide and Major Enquiry Team said: ‘Today our thoughts are with Daniel’s father Stefan and his parents – Daniel’s grandparents – and all their family and friends.
‘Stefan has spoken movingly about his love for his son and rightly feels robbed of the opportunity share his life with Daniel.
‘He has shown dignity throughout this ordeal and today his only thought was to speak on behalf of Daniel.
‘Stefan has paid tribute to Daniel’s tragically short life – so cruelly taken by the mother who should have cared for and protected him. It is almost beyond comprehension that Carol picked the date well in advance and lied to the family in order to give herself some time. Daniel woke that day as normal and went through his normal routine not knowing that very soon his mum would kill him in such a manner.
‘Hodgson plead guilty to Daniel’s murder but she failed to have the accountability of admitting to police how she took his life. Daniel’s family have had to listen to these details in court.
‘I’d like to join Stefan in offering thanks to the paramedics and police officers at the scene who tried so hard to help Daniel. This investigation has taken a toll on the entire team and I’d like to thank them for their continued drive and professionalism to get today’s result.
‘We hope today’s sentence, in bringing some justice for Daniel, will allow those who love this little boy to begin their grieving process.’
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