A man who chased a mother and her young daughter down a street while wielding a machete has been jailed for 31 months. Kadeem Hodgson, 26, of Longridge Avenue, St Helens, pursued Lauren Parr and her six-year-old daughter before attempting to force his way into a neighbour's house on Sutton Heath Road.
The incident took place at approximately 4.45pm on September 10, after Ms Parr's son arrived home and told her he was being pursued by Hodgson. Liverpool Crown Court heard there had been an “earlier incident” between the two men.
Chase caught on CCTV
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 shown to the court captured Ms Parr sprinting into a neighbour's front garden with her daughter held in her arms. She placed her daughter down on the grass as she called out to her neighbour, Siana Beech, who scooped up the screaming child and rushed inside the house. Seconds later, Hodgson appeared and stormed into the garden, charging towards the property. The sound of frantic banging followed as he attempted to force his way through the door.
Neighbour describes terror
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.”
She added: “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.”
Sentence handed down
Hodgson pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article, affray, and criminal damage. 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 shocking. 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.”
Passing sentence, 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.”
He added: “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.”
Hodgson was handed a 31-month sentence for possession of a bladed article, alongside a concurrent 21 months for affray and one month for criminal damage, bringing his total time behind bars to 31 months.
