A POLICEMAN yesterday became the first British officer to be charged
with murder after an unarmed suspect was shot dead during a routine
patrol.
Constable Patrick Hodgson, 48, was charged with the murder of Mr David
Ewin, 38, a chauffeur. He died after the shooting in south-west London
earlier this year.
It is the first time an officer has been charged with murder following
an investigation by the Police Complaints Authority and the only case of
its kind in living memory.
Mr Hodgson, who was based at London's Old Street police station, was
bailed to appear before Bow Street Magistrates on November 28.
The decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to bring charges follows
an investigation by Scotland Yard's complaints investigation bureau, led
by Detective Superintendent Aidan Thorne and supervised by the PCA. A
report was submitted to the CPS in early July.
Mr Ewin was shot twice in the chest after he was seen acting
suspiciously in a stolen Toyota with another man outside an off-licence
in Barnes, south-west London, on February 28. Mr Hodgson was one of
three officers in an armed response unit vehicle on routine patrol which
was involved in the incident.
Mr Ewin, of Roehampton, south-west London, died at the Royal London
Hospital 16 days later. A former celebrity chauffeur, his clients had
included pop stars including Annie Lennox and Michael Hutchence.
The PCA has records of four officers who have faced manslaughter
charges in the past decade. Three officers were cleared of the
manslaughter of illegal immigrant Joy Gardner in Hornsey, north London,
earlier this year.
A West Midlands police officer was found not guilty of manslaughter in
1985 after five-year-old John Shorthouse was accidentally killed while
hiding under bedclothes as police searched for his father.
As is usual for an officer facing charges, the Police Federation will
provide Mr Hodgson with legal assistance.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article