Teenage girl reveals how she was raped by her close friend while sleeping, just days after grandmother’s funeral

A woman has revealed how her friend raped her while she slept just two days after her grandma’s funeral.

Angel Rogerson, 21, had been with friend Douglas Hodgson, his sisters and his mum, at the local pub, before going back to their house for a drink.

When they went to bed Hodgson’s family suggested Angel share his double bed rather than walk home by herself.

Angel, who completely trusted him and had known his family for five years, climbed into his bed fully clothed, alongside Hodgson, who was sleeping, and fell asleep.

But when she woke up the next morning, though still fully clothed, she was in agonising pain and suspected Hodgson, then 28, had raped her.

After leaving the house, she messaged him on social media saying: ‘I know exactly what you did to me last night.’
He admitted he’d touched her sexually her but ‘swore down’ he did not rape her.

Angel, who was still grieving at the time, went to the police after confiding in her older sister Gemma, 28.

She said: ‘I just had a feeling that Douglas had done something to me so I messaged him to get a reaction. I just knew something bad had happened.

‘I couldn’t believe it when he said he had sexually touched me while I was asleep.

‘I am a heavy sleeper so I didn’t wake up through any of it. After I was examined by a doctor to find out what Douglas had done, I scrubbed myself clean with bleach.

‘I was crying my eyes out, I was in bits.’

Angel’s forensic results later confirmed that Hodgson had raped her as she slept next to him on Good Friday in 2015.

He confessed to raping Angel after 22 months of initially denying the offence.

Hodgson, of Langdale Place, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, admitted rape at Durham Crown Court six days before his trial was due to start.

Angel read out her victim impact statement during his sentencing hearing the following month.

Judge Christopher Prince sentenced Douglas Michael Hodgson, now 30, to six years and four months in prison.

He was also handed a restraining order against Angel and must register as a sex offender, both for life.

Angel said: ‘I am happy with the sentence that Douglas was given. I hate him for what he has done to me. He didn’t have a leg to stand on. The results showed he had to have raped me.