20/03/98 - Killer is dragged
to cells
The Mirror
EVIL child killer Howard Hughes was dragged bellowing
from court yesterday when his freedom bid was thrown
out.
Giant Hughes, 32, who raped and murdered little Sophie
Hook in 1995, had to be hustled away to the cells by
four burly security guards.
When his appeal was refused, the 6'8'' monster leapt
to his feet yelling: "I never made a confession."
Hughes had tried to get his two life sentences for
the appalling rape and murder of seven-year-old Sophie
quashed.
He claimed that his convictions were unsafe because
they were based on a confession he made to his building
firm boss father Gerald.
Hughes denies he admitted the crimes.
His father had asked him: "Did you do it?"
And, shortly afterwards, police found Sophie's nightie
and knickers dumped near the Colwyn Bay shoreline where
her naked body was washed up after she'd been dumped
in the sea.
Sophie had been snatched from a tent in the garden
of her uncle's house in Llandudno, North Wales.
Three appeal judges in London said yesterday that there
was nothing wrong with the confession used in the original
murder trial.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Bingham said the confession
"strengthened immeasurably" the police case
against Hughes.
Lord Bingham added: "The perpetrator would be
best placed to know where the clothes of the child were
to be found."
As the judge formally rejected the appeal, Hughes jumped
up and bellowed over and over again: "Sir, I never
made a confession."
Security guards grappled with him and he eventually gave
in and was bundled out of the court back to prison - from
where the trial judge said he should never be released.
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