Rapist bids to overturn conviction

A FORMER Big Issue seller who was jailed for six years after trussing up and raping a teenage girl is appealing against his conviction.

Michael Hodgson dragged his victim, who was a virgin, into a bedroom and put her face down on a bed before tying her arms and feet and sexually assaulting her.

The victim, who had an IQ of only 74 and was described as "highly suggestible, compliant and extremely immature emotionally", had gone round to Hodgson's Edinburgh flat to watch DVDs with him.

Lawyers for Hodgson, 48, are appealing against his conviction on the basis that he was interviewed by officers at St Leonard's police station without a lawyer present, and that the judge misdirected the jury.

During sentencing in March 2009, Judge Lord Uist told Hodgson following his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh: "It is clear to me that you are a depraved and scheming man."

Lord Uist pointed out that Hodgson, of Bingham Medway, had a criminal record that included violent offences and had been jailed on several occasions.

Hodgson had denied raping the teenager at his flat in the city between August 20 and September 6 in 2007, but was found guilty at his trial.

The court heard that he tried to get the woman to drink alcohol, but then seized her and took her into a bedroom before tying her up using dressing gown cords. In his decision over Hodgson's appeal, the Lord Justice Clerk said the case should be considered by a bench of five judges.