South London child molester dies in HMP High Down prison

Colin Hudson, who previously lived in Croydon and then Wandsworth, was sentenced to eight years in prison in July 2018.

In 2015, the victim – now in her 50s – reported to police that she had been abused and raped by Hudson in 1978 when she was 12 years old.

The court heard how Hudson pressured the victim to go to his house and then ordered her to lie in his bed and undress before raping her.

Hudson denied the charges but was found guilty by a jury at Croydon Crown Court of raping a 12-year-old girl.

A report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman was released on Monday (July 8) revealing that Hudson died as a prisoner at HMP High Down on April 5 last year, aged 68.

Hudson was diagnosed with leukemia in 2021.

A request for early release on humanitarian grounds was submitted on April 3, 2023, but Hudson died two days later while the request was being reviewed.