Family from hell

Gilps · December 21, 2005

Couldn't believe this case. Poor girl.

Four members of the same family and a teenager have been found guilty of murdering a young mother who they had tortured for months.

The body of Rachel Hudson, 20, was discovered in the grounds of Newstead Abbey, Nottinghamshire, in 2004.

Her husband Craig, 21, his brother Ronald Hudson Jnr, 23, along with their parents Ronald Hudson Snr, 49, and Trudi Hudson, 44, had denied murder.

Elisabeth Hogg, 19, was also convicted. Charlene Hudson, 18, was cleared.

Rachel Hudson was kept prisoner at her in-laws' crowded home for months before she was beaten to death.

The court heard she was tortured, insulted and humiliated by the family after she moved in with them in Stockhill, Nottingham, in November 2002.

The apparently close-knit Hudson family had turned on itself during the trial, each accusing the others of intimidation and abuse.

Prosecutor Timothy Spencer painted a picture of Ronald and Trudi Hudson as a controlling, violent couple who kept a tight rein on their children and who disliked outsiders.

Rachel's frail, battered body was found face down in mud near a lake just 17 months after her wedding.

She had suffered more than 60 injuries at their hands in the weeks before she died.

When she was found, 11 of her ribs were fractured and her mouth was so badly injured that her bottom lip had become detached from her skull.

Untreated injuries

She had also suffered cigarette burns, scalds and heavy bruising as a result of countless attacks with a baseball bat and a piece of wood.

The weapons, "Mr Woody" and "Captain Plank" were given affectionate pet names by her abusers, whereas Rachel was known as "slagbag" and "stinkbomb".

She eventually died of thrombosis caused by a blood clot in her brain that had been left untreated for weeks. It had been brought on by septicaemia, dehydration and repeated assault.

Home Office pathologist Professor Guy Rutty told the court it was the worst case he had ever seen.

He said: "I see a lot of people who have been beaten. I have to say I have never seen anything like this before."

Cobs · December 21, 2005

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