'She will kill again': sons of murder victim speak out over potential sentence downgrade
Sally Hodkin's sons warn that her killer is a danger to society, as Carolyn Sim reports.
Nicola Edgington is a convicted murderer, described by a judge as "manipulative and extremely dangerous" after she killed Sally Hodkin with a butcher's knife.
Now the Criminal Cases Review Commission have referred the case to the court of appeal with the possibility the murder conviction could be downgraded to manslaughter.
Having killed her own mother in 2005, she later attacked two strangers and attempted to flee the scene in Bexleyheath in 2011.
One of the victims survived, but 58-year-old Sally Hodkin, who had been walking home from work at the time of the attack, died at the scene.
She had been stabbed nine times with a butcher's knife.
Sally's two sons told ITV News London that they are in a state of disbelief that Edgington's lawyers are appealing.
"She's a danger to society. There is a clear risk to the public," said Len Hodkin.
"There are certain people who get whole life tariffs - they are few and far between - but there are certain people it just warrants because they're too dangerous."
"If she was to be released, I have no doubt that if similar circumstances arose, she'd kill again," he added.
This wasn't the first time Nicola Edgington had killed. In 2005 she stabbed her own mother and was sectioned but released four years later.
However, the Criminal Cases Review Commission claims that during the trial of Sally Hodkin's murder, evidence about Edgington's mental health wasn't fully explained.
It said: “Important information was overlooked or not conveyed correctly, and this may have misled the jury.
“Had this evidence been explained sufficiently it might have changed the outcome at her trial.”
Adrian Eissa KC, criminal lawyer said: "The CCRC is there, in effect, to act as a kind of safety valve. To ensure that if miscarriages of justice do occur, they can intercede and seek to rectify them.
"They are sufficiently concerned about the conviction that they are prepared to ask the court to review it."
Ian Hodkin, Sally's son, said he feels let down by the ruling.
"The court of appeal should be looking at it thinking that she is a danger to society, she is calculated and she can't be let out.
"They should be throwing this straight out."
For now, the brothers will have to wait to find out if the appeal will be heard. If the court decides Edgington's conviction should be changed to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility, her sentence could be changed and she could even be released.
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