A man who chased a woman carrying her six-year-old daughter down a St Helens street while wielding a machete has been jailed for 31 months. Kadeem Hodgson, 26, of Longridge Avenue, St Helens, was caught on CCTV pursuing Lauren Parr as she ran to a neighbour's house with her daughter in her arms.
The incident took place on Sutton Heath Road in St Helens at around 4.45pm on September 10. Liverpool Crown Court heard that Ms Parr's son had returned home and told her he was being chased by Hodgson, following an "earlier incident" between the two men.
Machete came within 10cm of woman's head
Prosecutor Derryn Gibney told the court: "Lauren Parr left her property with her daughter - both in their pyjamas - her daughter was barefoot. They ran down the street when she noticed the defendant following behind her, who gestured to his waistband."
CCTV footage showed Ms Parr running into a neighbour's front garden with her daughter in her arms. She put her daughter down on the grass as she shouted to her neighbour, Siana Beech, who picked up the screaming child and ran into the house. Moments later, Hodgson appeared in the garden and ran up to the house, with sounds of banging heard as he attempted to force his way inside. He then ran away as other residents came outside.
Ms Gibney said: "The footage, the Crown says, speaks for itself. Siana Beech describes she was trying to keep the door shut herself. At one point the machete, which the defendant was hacking at the door with, was coming through the door in proximity to her head, and damage was caused to the front door."
In a statement, Ms Beech said: "He had blood all over his face. I saw the man trying to force his way through my front door. I was holding my one-year-old daughter and trying desperately to keep the door shut. He kicked the door and tried to shove the machete through the gap. At one point it came within 10cm of my head. I genuinely believed he would get through and that I, my children or my partner would be seriously hurt or killed. I still think of how close the machete came to my head and I wonder what would have happened if the door had opened."
She said the incident had left her feeling unsafe in her own home and "constantly on edge and afraid it will happen again". She added: "The thought that I would be unable to protect my children continues to haunt me. Since the incident they have been lashing out and behaving differently. They've said that the bad man is coming back. It's heartbreaking to hear this. I worry about how this has affected their sense of safety. The incident was relatively short but its consequences have continued. Every unexpected noise can bring the fear back. Since this has happened, I'm constantly thinking about protecting my children and what I would do if someone tried to enter again. I never expected to have to hold a door shut while someone with a machete tried to get inside. The physical damage to the door can be repaired, but the fear and memories cannot be repaired so easily. I'm still living with the consequences every day. I want to feel safe again. I want my children to feel safe again."
Defendant's history and sentence
Hodgson pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article, affray, and criminal damage. He appeared in court on November 4 for sentence. He has 23 previous convictions for 33 offences, including possession of a bladed article, wounding, affray, and threatening someone with an offensive weapon.
Sarah Griffin, defending, said: "He realises the offending is schocking. He hasn't sought to justify his behaviour. He is remorseful. He regrets that his issues with others have affected innocent parties and he has asked to apologise to the victims through me. He has taken part in a thinking skills course because he now acknowledges the significant impact of these offences."
Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland said: "You're still a young man with the whole of the rest of your life ahead of you. You have committed multiple offences in your few years and you have three youth cautions against your name. There's yet the opportunity, if you choose to take it, to stop committing offences. But for as long as you conduct yourself like this, as a sort of minor league gangster, the sentences will get longer and longer. So my question to you is this. Do you want to spend years in custody, or do you want to do something useful with your life? You'll have plenty enough time to have a think. I can assure you if you don't take the opportunity of readdressing your life, you will find yourself committing offences where you're sentenced to years and years in custody. On the last occasion, you were sentenced to 28 months. You didn't take that warning. You didn't take the warning either, when you were sentenced to 17 months for threatening someone with a blade in 2020. We come to this matter. You had a machete down your trousers and you chased a defenceless, screaming woman into another house. She was carrying a little girl. She was terrified and you were the cause of that. I'm told you understand that now, and so you should. That behaviour was appalling."
He sentenced Hodgson to 31 months for possession of a bladed article, with a concurrent 21 months for affray and one month for criminal damage, making a total of 31 months in prison.
