Boy detained indefinitely for attack

A teenage boy who throttled a 10-year-old girl before repeatedly beating her around the head so viciously he could have killed her might never be released from custody, a judge said yesterday.

Connor Hodgson, 16, said he had no idea why he attacked the girl in Stockton, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Hodgson, who is in council care, had drug and alcohol problems and had been smoking cannabis on the day of the attack in April. He admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. Judge Peter Fox sentenced him to an indeterminate term, saying he was such a risk to the public he could not say if he would ever be freed.