Man smashed car window with bar while victim was inside

Kadeem Hodgson, 23, was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court today (Tuesday) for the violent outburst that took place on the grounds of St Helens Hospital on December 27 last year.

The court heard that Hodgson attended the hospital site after being told of an argument a friend of his had been involved in with the victim.

The victim and his stepfather had got into a car when Hodgson launched his attack.

CCTV footage was played to the court showing the defendant attending the hospital “carrying a plastic bag” as his victim was leaving.

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Hodgson then ran over to the car the victim had gone into with his stepfather and smashed windows using the metal bar. The time on the CCTV footage read 3.22pm.

Prosecuting barrister, Lee Bonner told the court Hodgson “approached the passenger side and repeatedly struck the window with a weapon".

He added: “The defendant then moved to the driver’s side where (the victim’s stepdad) had got in and appears to strike at him a number of times before returning to the passenger side."

He then “struck the window” and “causes glass to shatter” and can be seen “thrusting the weapon a number of times” inside the car.

The defendant and his friend then “run away from the hospital”.   

Hodgson was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court

Mr Bonner said a witness, a nurse, said she “feared for her safety” as she saw Hodgson with “what she described as a massive bar” started “hitting the car and smashing the window”.

The court was also played footage showing the injury caused to the victim, described as a “deep laceration” on his “lower leg”, which was caused "by the smashed glass or the weapon".

Mr Bonner argued that the harm caused by Hodgson’s offending was “serious” due to the “distress caused” adding “the incident occurred in a public area” with “vulnerable people” including children” and at least one patient present.

Hodgson, 23, of Longridge Avenue, Blackbrook, had pleaded guilty to affray and making threats with an offensive weapon at a previous court hearing.

The court heard he had 13 previous convictions for 24 offences, including criminal damage, violence, possession of a knife and drugs offences.

Hodgson was sent to a youth offenders’ institute in October 2020 for 16 months for wounding and ABH.   

Kadeem Hodgson had 18 previous convictions for 24 offences (Image: Merseyside Police)

Defending Hodgson, John Rowan said his client has been “significantly affected” after his mother was murdered when he was five and that his adopted father had died in 2017 “that appeared to be a downward spiral for this young man”.

He added: “There is perhaps more to the incident than meets the eye, the court will never know the issues underlying.

He added that both the victim and his stepfather “declined to assist the police and made statements.”    

The attack happened on the grounds of St Helens Hospital (Image: Stock)

Passing sentence, judge Recorder Kendrick Horne he disagreed with Hodgson’s defence counsel’s contention that there wasn’t a “significant degree of planning” of the offence, saying he had taken the weapon to the scene and had “exchanged messages” in the build-up.

“You knew what you were doing,” the judge added.

Recorder Horne told Hodgson he would have been sentenced to 35 months after a trial, which was reduced to 28 months for his guilty plea.