Peter and Sean Hodgson horrified as killer is revealed
Sep 19 2009 by Dan Warburton, The Journal
MURDERER David Lace was last night branded a “monster” by his family after it emerged he strangled and raped a barmaid 30 years ago.
Lace, who killed himself in 1988 aged 26, was identified as the killer of 22-year-old Teresa De Simone by police this week.
He admitted to the crime in 1982, but police ignored his confessions and went on to prosecute pathological liar Sean Hodgson, from Lanchester, in County Durham.
Mr Hodgson consistently protested his innocence after originally confessing to the killing.
He was eventually convicted of the brutal killing before it was quashed at the Court of Appeal and he walked free looking frail and shell-shocked in March this year.
Police have now revealed Lace was the likely killer of the gas board clerk after DNA tests were carried out on his exhumed body.
And last night his brothers, Geoff and John Lace, said they were still coming to terms with the fact their skinny, ginger-haired brother was a murderer.
John, 52, from Portsmouth, said: “He is a murderer and he is a monster. We cannot beat about the bush.
“He is also my brother. I have got to feel for him. To finally take his own life because he couldn’t live with what he had done shows that he was suffering.”
Geoff, 45, added: “It might sound cold-hearted but I think he took the coward’s way out. It’s been a shock to the family – a massive shock.
“It’s so hard to describe my feelings. It’s disgusting what he did but we now understand why he committed suicide, because he couldn’t live with it. He should’ve come out with it – if you do something wrong you should face the music.’
Both brothers said their thoughts were with Miss De Simone’s elderly mother Mary Sedotti and stepfather Michael.
They described David Lace as a loner who had a string of convictions for burglary and had also robbed a sub post office for which he was given a five-year jail term.
But the family never suspected he was capable of murder.
Geoff said: “When the police originally knocked on the door I personally thought they were investigating his death because they interviewed me on what he was like and what he used to do. And then we got told the reason.
“We did everything in our power to help. We all had to give DNA to try and match because we all carry our mother’s DNA.”
Teresa de Simone was killed in her car in the car park of the Tom Tackle pub in Commercial Road, Southampton, in 1979.
Her partially-clothed body was found on the back seat of her Ford Escort in the pub car park.
He is a murderer and he is a monster. We cannot beat about the bush
