Paul Watson

A Mother who murdered her two-year-old son The Day she was due at an access hearing has been jailed For Life .

Daniel Hodgson Green was found suffocated next to His Mother At Home in Guisborough, Teesside, in February.

Teesside Crown Court heard Carol Hodgson, 40, who admitted murder, tried to take her own life afterwards.

Sentencing her for at least 18 years and four months, Judge Paul Watson said it had been a premeditated killing and not done " in The Heat of the moment".

He Said Hodgson had deliberately killed Daniel And Then tried to take her own life, which was only prevented when her own mother arrived at The House Upper Garth Gardens and raised The Alarm .

Despite Pleading Guilty , Hodgson has never revealed to police how her son died although experts believe he was suffocated.

Forensic pathologist Dr Louise Mulcahy had told The Court Daniel was likely to have been suffocated with a Plastic Bag from a vacuum cleaner, which was also found on The Bed .

Hodgson had been due That Day at a court hearing to discuss Daniel's father Stefan Green having increased contact with his son.

Mr Green had been applying to have more access to his son and to stop Hodgson changing Daniel's surname, relocating or taking him On Holiday without notifying him.

The Judge described the murder as " a horrifying and truly awful crime".

The Court heard 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's mother had found a note in the hallway of Her Daughter 's home which read: " Just ring The Police Mam, don't go into The Bedroom , you don't need to see it. I love you and I Am so sorry. "

There was another on The Bedroom door.

In a victim impact statement In Court Daniel's father described how he only knew his son as a baby, before Hodgson had cut off all contact and " disappeared with him".

Mr Green said Daniel had been his entire world and the shocking nature of his death had destroyed his and the rest of His Family 's lives, leaving him suffering PTSD and night terrors, struggling " to find a way forward".

Speaking outside court Mr Green said: " We never got to make a connection with my son, we never got to see his First Steps or hear his first words and now because of an evil person, a person who should've been one of the Two People he should've felt safest with, there is an entire lifetime of firsts lost. "

Alistair Macdonald QC, prosecuting, 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. "

Det Insp Matt Hall , from Cleveland Police , said outside court Hodgson had offered police no explanation for her actions.

" She knew a long Time In advance that was The Day she was going to kill her son, " He Said .

" With no explanation offered she picked the date, she picked The Method and she knew when her child woke up she was going to kill him in a selfish act. "

Richard Wright QC, defending, said it was accepted by others Hodgson loved her son and had shown genuine remorse.

" 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, " He Said .

The Judge said he could not imagine " The Pain and anguish" Hodgson had caused to Daniel's father and others " who loved and cherished him".

He added he accepted her actions " That Day were out of character" and said although he believed Hodgson's remorse was genuine, He Said " given The Level of premeditation" it only carried " marginal weight".

Christopher Atkinson, from The Crown Prosecution Service, said he hoped The Sentence would bring Daniel's father and family " some measure of comfort".

Source of news: bbc.com