Miscarriage of justice victim could have been freed in 1998

Sean Hodgson could have been freed from prison 11 years ago but a mistake by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) stopped his conviction from being quashed.

Mr Hodgson, now 57, was wrongly jailed in 1982 after the murder of 22-year-old Teresa De Simone, a barmaid who was killed in her car. Mr Hodgson's 27 years and one month in prison constitute one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history. At the time of the killing in 1979, DNA forensic techniques did not exist and the only scientific basis for Mr Hodgson's conviction was that his blood type (A) matched that found in her car. Thirty per cent of the population are blood type A.

In 1998, Mr Hodgson's legal team asked the FSS for permission to re-examine 20 items found in Ms De Simone's car using DNA analysis.

But yesterday the High Court was told the FSS had replied that the relevant exhibits no longer existed. Sarah Whitehouse, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "This was plainly erroneous information."

Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice, called the response "plainly wrong". He added: "We have been told that the matter has been referred to the appropriate forensic regulator. We can say no more about it until these investigations have been completed."

Asked outside court what he thought about the FSS's failure to provide the exhibits in 1998, Mr Hodgson said: "It's disgraceful."

After the ruling, Julian Young, Mr Hodgson's barrister, said: "Ten years ago, someone in the FSS, perhaps by accident, made an error of some sort, and as a result Mr Hodgson stayed in custody 10 years longer. Whether Forensic Science have liability in respect of an error 10 years ago is a matter for another day, when we have a chance to talk to Sean at some length."

That remark suggests that Mr Hodgson will, in addition to probably receiving the £1m maximum compensation from the Ministry of Justice, look to bring a private civil action against the FSS for the final decade he spent in prison.

Mr Young added that his client is "very pleased that his nightmare is at long last over" and said that Mr Hodgson, a Sunderland fan, was "looking forward one day to going to watch a football match".

The 20 exhibits were finally obtained by Mr Hodgson's legal team in October 2008. Three of the items contained semen. The other 17 had fibres from the killer on them. In January this year, it was proven than none of the exhibits carried DNA belonging to Mr Hodgson. He was not the killer, nor had he been in Ms De Simone's car.

Hampshire Police will now reopen the investigation. The DNA profile gives the officers something to work with, although the force confirmed that no one currently on the DNA database matches the DNA profile of the killer. Detective Chief Inspector Philip McTavish, of Hampshire Police, said outside court: "The fact that we have this DNA also means that we are able to eliminate people from our inquiry.

"The original investigation and evidence is now being revisited with the benefit of the DNA evidence and we will utilise the advances in forensic science. A major incident room has been set up and a dedicated team of investigators has been appointed. This may well be a protracted inquiry but we are fully committed to pursuing this investigation."

The longest-serving victim of a miscarriage of justice in Britain is thought to be Stephen Downing, who spent 27 years and 11 months in jail after he was convicted of murdering Wendy Sewell in Bakewell. He was freed in 2002.