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03/07/96 - Yes, I did it
Patrick Mulchrone
The Mirror
A Distraught father told yesterday how his son confessed
to the sex killing of little Sophie Hook.
Quarry boss Gerald Hughes said Howard Hughes led him
to a corner of a police room where they could not be
seen, and said: "Yes, dad, I did it."
Hughes then allegedly imitated the noise of Sophie's
dying breath as he strangled her.
Mr Hughes' voice broke with emotion and his hands shook
as he gave his sensational evidence at Chester Crown
Court.
He rarely exchanged glances with his 31-year-old son
who stared straight ahead.
Accused Hughes - a jobless gardener - is said to have
plucked Sophie, seven, from a tent in her uncle's garden
in Llandudno, North Wales.
He then allegedly raped her twice before strangling
her and throwing her body in the sea.
Mr Hughes, 71 - a friend of the Hook family - visited
his son in Llandudno police station after his arrest.
He told the court that once they were alone he asked
Hughes if he had killed Sophie,
After moving out of sight of a glass partition, Hughes
allegedly said: "Yes I did it. You don't know what
it's like to be sexually frustrated." His father
said: "Then he screwed himself up to show me that
he was in pain - to show what frustration really was."
Without prompting, Hughes then allegedly took his father
through the killing.
He told how he had seen some children playing in a
tent. He asked one of them, a little girl, to come with
him. But she refused.
Mr Hughes said: "He said he returned about 2am
the following morning. This time he persuaded the girl
to come with him. He took her down a bridlepath to the
beach.
"I asked him if he had sexually assaulted her.
He said 'Yes I did'." At this point, Mr Hughes
broke down and asked for a glass of water.
He continued: "I asked him how he came to kill
her. He said she was screaming and that there were people
about.
"So he put his hand over her mouth and held it
there until she stopped.
"In his exact words, she went 'Ooph.' He said
'I knew then that I had done it'." Mr Hughes exhaled
to describe the sound his son made.
He then asked Hughes to substantiate the story by telling
him where Sophie's clothes were. His son allegedly pinpointed
on a map the spot where police later recovered Sophie's
nightwear.
Father-of-four Mr Hughes told police of his son's confession
after a family talk. Questioned by the defence, he said
it was "rubbish" to suggest that Hughes had
not admitted the killing.
He said: "I wouldn't be here today if he hadn't
said it."
Mr Hughes said he had believed his son was a gentle
person who would not kill an "innocent lass".
But he had been a troublesome child and a compulsive
nailbiter "who virtually ripped his nails out".
Hughes was referred to psychiatrists and was later
sent to a mental hospital. He was vulnerable and behaved
like a child in an adult's body.
Hughes denies raping and murdering Sophie, of Great Budworth,
Cheshire. The trial continues. |
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