By Gabriel Princewill-
A senior solicitor jailed for raping a teenager in 2013 has been struck off the roll and ordered to pay fixed costs of £2000.
Mark Reginald Stuart Hodge, admitted in 1991, was sentenced in 2015 to 11 years imprisonment after being convicted of two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual assault on a female by penetration.
He served five and a half years in custody before being released on license for the remainder of his license.
Mark Hodge, 50, from Fillongley, was found guilty of five offences, including rape and sexual assault at Birmingham Crown Court in 2015. the assaults occurred after an evening spent socializing with his teenage victim on a drunken night.
Mr. Hodge sought to cover his tracks after his despicable conduct by sending her text messages directed at minimizing his misconduct.
The 50-year-old married dad-of-three denied the offences at the time which occurred in October 2013 in Birmingham, claiming the victim, who was 18 at the time, had fabricated the accusations.
However, his lies were soon exposed by forensic evidence, which was then presented to horrified jurors during the trial.
The convicted rapist was at the time a partner at Stuart Hodge Corporate Lawyers LLP, based in Temple Row West, Birmingham. He was also a solicitor, beneficial shareholder, and member and director at Continuum Nominees Limited.
Judge Richard Bond at the time of sentencing in 2015 said: “It’s always upsetting for the courts to deal with a member of the legal profession in the dock.
“I don’t punish you for that, it simply demonstrates that a man, regardless of his background, can commit such a dreadful offence as rape.”
The judge said the victim had described feeling “unhappy, sad and isolated” by her ordeal.
In an agreed outcome, the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found that Hodge was ‘solely culpable for his deplorable conduct’ against his victim.
‘The fact that Person A was known to the respondent demonstrates that his conduct was a flagrant breach of trust,’ it said. ‘The respondent had direct control over Person A who was vulnerable and whom he sexually assaulted in her own home after having celebrated her 18th birthday with her and Person B with whom she lived.’
According to a statement of agreed facts, Hodge pleaded not guilty at Birmingham Crown Court, and accused the victim, whose identity has been withheld for legal reasons, of sexually assaulting him. Hodge maintained his innocence and told the tribunal he intends to appeal, ‘remaining optimistic that he will ultimately successfully challenge his conviction’.
Tribunal
The three-person tribunal panel rejected all of the mitigating features advanced by Hodge, concluding that there is ‘no place on the roll of solicitors for those who had committed serious sexual offences’.
‘The harm caused by the respondent permeated all aspects of her life physically, mentally and emotionally. That harm, in conjunction with the damage caused to the legal profession by a solicitor having been convicted of such heinous criminal offences, was at the highest level of seriousness”, the SDT judgement read.
The Solicitors Regulation Authority waited until the end of 2020, to begin prosecution proceedings against Hodge because of attempts he made to overturn his conviction. His first appeal was heard in 2018 and Hodge said he would appeal again. According to the SRA, his routes for appeal ran out in December 2020.
The Tribunal found that the Respondent was solely culpable for his deplorable conduct which was sexually motivated and predicated on his own sexual gratification irrespective of the impact on the victim and others.
”The fact that the to the Respondent demonstrates that his conduct was a flagrant breach of trust, the tribunal said.
The Respondent had direct control over his victim who was vulnerable, and whom he sexually assaulted in her own home after having celebrated her 18th birthday with her and a friend with whom she lived.
He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely, the barring list
(administered by the Disclosure and Barring Service) and issued with a Restraining Order.