Mark Reginald Stuart Hodge
Allegation / charges
Criminal Convictions
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
The Respondent, admitted in 1991, was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on 22 June 2015 of two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault, and one count of sexual assault by penetration, and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment (serving 5.5 years), placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely, a DBS barring list, and subject to a restraining order. The offences involved sexually assaulting and raping a vulnerable, intoxicated 18-year-old (Person A) in her own home following her birthday celebration. By an Agreed Outcome dealt with on the papers, the Tribunal found his conduct deplorable, a flagrant breach of trust, with harm and damage to the profession at the highest level of seriousness. The Tribunal rejected all mitigation and struck him off the Roll, ordering costs of £2,000.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Conduct was sexually motivated by personal gratification
- Person A was known to the Respondent
- Assaults occurred after an evening socialising with Person A and Person B
- Person A and Person B were intoxicated
- Person A was unable to defend herself and vulnerable
- Person B was unable to defend Person A
- Conduct was deliberate, planned and repeated (five sexual violations throughout the evening)
- Respondent sought to cover his tracks by sending text messages minimising his misconduct
- Pleaded not guilty, forcing Person A through a Crown Court trial and blaming her