Murder suspect asked friend of Hodsons to get couple drunk and deliver them to hitman, police told
A FRIEND of slain police informer Terence Hodson and wife Christine told police the prime suspect in the couple’s murder asked him to “get them drunk” and then drive them to meet a hitman.
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A FRIEND of slain police informer Terence Hodson and wife Christine told police that the prime suspect in the couple’s murder had asked him to “get them drunk” and then drive them to meet a hitman.
The friend gave the statement after the case against suspected corrupt police officer Paul Dale over the 2004 murders fell apart, following the April 2010 jailhouse murder of gangland boss Carl Williams.
But the statement was not provided to the coroner holding an inquest on the Hodsons, because police held concerns for the witness’s safety.
The Hodsons were shot dead in the back room of their house on May 16, 2004. Terence Hodson had been preparing to give evidence against allegedly corrupt police.
Former detective Mr Dale and hitman Rod Collins were charged in 2009 with murdering Terence Hodson.
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Collins was also charged with murdering Mrs Hodson.
In a version of the police statement, seen by the Herald Sun, the friend says Mr Dale approached him about Terence Hodson in March 2004.
It says: “Dale said Terry has to go and you have a vested interest ... Dale then said this is what I want you to do.
“I want you to go out for tea with the Hodsons and get them drunk and when you are driving them home meet up with Rod Collins and he will take it from there.”
The friend says Mr Dale told him he was against attacking the Hodsons in their East Kew home because he believed it was under police surveillance.
The friend says Mr Dale offered him a substantial sum.
“Dale then said I have some cash on me now I will give you, and will pay you $200,000 when the job is done.
“I told Dale I could not do that ... Dale then said ‘Think about it, it’s good money’ ...
“Dale phoned me the next day, and when I told him I could not do it he hung up.”
Two months later he heard of the murders on the news.
The case against both Mr Dale and Collins collapsed after the fatal prison bashing of Williams, who’d told police he, with Collins and Mr Dale, organised Hodson’s murder.
Collins is serving life with a minimum of 32 years for a double murder.
Both he and Mr Dale have denied any involvement in the Hodsons’ murder.
Emails between police and the friend of the Hodsons, seen by the Herald Sun, indicate that senior investigators had concerns about putting his evidence out in public without his agreeing to conditions, including assessment by the witness protection unit.
Sources close to the investigation are understood to have misgivings about the veracity of the statement.
Victoria Police said it would be inappropriate to comment before the inquest finding.