Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Fugitive’s fears of ‘mafia attacks’ in Portuguese prison
Dad tells court of anxiety and panic attacks
A dad fears he will be attacked by the mafia in a Portugese prison if he is extradited to serve a jail sentence.
John Hodgson was on a trip to the Algarve in 2011 when he elbowed a drunk local man in the face outside a late-night bar, causing him to fall down steps and hit his head.
The victim, Ricardo Teixeira, who was also under the influence of drugs, died a week later as a result of the traumatic brain injury.
Hodgson, now 29, who claims he acted in self-defence, was charged with what the Portuguese courts called “compound grievous bodily harm” but would be considered manslaughter in the UK.
The Gazette revealed earlier this month how the painter and decorator now faces extradition to serve his seven-year jail time. He was pulled from his house in a dawn raid by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA), who were executing a European Arrest Warrant on behalf of the Portuguese authorities. Now he must wait until later this month to learn his fate. Catherine Brown, prosecuting, told an extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday that the offence was committed on July 7, 2011, at 3.46am.
She said: “Without anything preceding it, outside the bar, the defendant elbowed him to the side of the head where he fell down steps and hit his head. “The defendant then returned inside the nightclub and did not notify anyone what had happened.”
Hodgson, from Herne Bay, was asked why he chose not to return to Portugal for his trial in October 2016 or to serve his sentence.
Giving evidence, he said: “I was scared for my safety. “I heard from my nephews’ dad that the family was part of a gang, or mafia as he said.” Hodgson said during a demonstration in Albufeira in 2012, one protest board said ‘English assassin’, while another bore Hodgson’s parents’ previous address.
“I don’t know the people that [the family] know,” he added. “If they are involved in a violent background, I’d be worried about prison over there.
“It can take one call to cause a problem.” Hodgson claimed he had received a wad of papers stating his sentence in Portuguese and with very little in English. He discarded it as he did not understand it.
Hodgson said the first he heard of his possible extradition was at the dawn raid on November 28 last year.
He also said his mental health has severely suffered over the past several years, living with anxiety and depression and taking a large amount of medication.
He added: “I’ve had five panic attacks this week. They’re unbearable, I can’t breathe, it feels like I’m having a heart attack.”
Natasha Draycott, representing Hodgson, said: “The requested person is scared for his safety.
“His nephews’ father said, while he admits it was hearsay, the victim’s family was identified as part of a criminal gang. “I ask you to take into account the effect extradition will have on his partner and their family. I would ask you to find his extradition would be disproportionate to his punishment he has already faced.”
But Ms Brown added: “He’s accepted he’s a fugitive and it’s up to you to decide whether it’s a matter of whether he was genuinely fearful of returning to Portugal or whether he wished to avoid proceedings.” District Judge Gareth Branston reserved his decision until February 24. Hodgson, wearing a white t-shirt and jogging bottoms, was supported in court by fiancée Sian Lovegrove and two friends.
‘It can take one call to cause a problem’