Daniel Hodgson Green: Father of two-year-old murdered by mother says son 'was his entire world'
The father of a two-year-old murdered by his own mother has described the pain he lives through every day.
Daniel Hodgson Green was found dead by paramedics on Wednesday 2 February.
His mother, 40-year-old Carol Hodgson of Guisborough, had suffocated him with a plastic vacuum cleaner bag before attempting to take her own life.
On the day of the murder, Hodgson was due in court for proceedings after Daniel's father Stefan Green made an application to increase his contact with the boy.
In his witness statement, Mr Green told the court he has developed PTSD since "his entire world" was taken away.
"As a baby he was wonderful […] he loved to play peek-a-boo," he said.
"He loved his cuddles with us all. I miss hearing him laugh, holding him in my arms, cradling him to sleep.
"He was my entire world. The day he was born I truly knew what love was.
"I knew what it felt to have a higher purpose, to do everything within my power to give him the best life, one full of love and happiness, to catch him when he fell, to wipe away his tears after heartbreak and to hold him high whether he succeeded or failed."
He added: "I never got to see his first steps, hear his first words. All of that was stolen from me and my family, and now his life has been stolen from him, all the possibilities in life he had ahead of him are now gone."
Hodgson was discovered alongside the dead two-year-old with a large wound in her neck and covered in blood.
Her mother was administering chest compressions to Hodgson when the paramedics arrived, having read a letter urging her not to enter the room.
"Just ring the police Mam, don’t go into the bedroom, you don’t need to see it," it read. "I love you and I am sorry."
On Friday 15 July, she was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years and four months.
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."
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