A man who was shot dead after breaking into a house wielding a crossbow was a convicted stalker who was under a five-year restraining order at the time.
Bryce Hodgson, 30, had been banned from entering Bywater Place, Rotherhithe, where the shooting happened just before 5am on Tuesday.
Terrified residents raised the alarm after Hodgson tried to force his way into the home wearing a gas mask and wielding a crossbow, sword and hatchet.
Attempts at negotiation from officers were unsuccessful, prompting them to call for back-up from armed police. Hodgson then got into the home when an armed officer fired, resulting in his death.
It has now emerged that he was a convicted stalker after being sentenced to a 16-month suspended prison sentence at Croydon Magistrates’ Court last July for stalking a 31-year-old woman.
He pled guilty to causing serious alarm and distress to her by entering her bedroom without consent, reports the Mirror. He also sent text messages that demanded she open the door to him, as well as others detailing vivid sexual fantasies between January 1 and April 29 last year.
Due to “previous good character”, Hodgson was spared jail and given a restraining order imposed until January 2028.
This banned him from contacting the victim or entering the road where she lives. Hodgson, of Thurlow Park Road, West Dulwich, was also told to pay £85 costs and a £154 victim surcharge.
Neighbours of Mr Hodgson described him as a “dark horse” who was “nervy” and would smoke weed. One resident at a south London bedsit where he lived said: “He moved in last summer and you would see him outside the front smoking weed and cigarettes. He smoked a lot.
“He was a bit anxious, like he was on edge. I have a feeling he worked in computers. I never saw him bring anyone back. You could never quite work out what kind of person he was. He was a dark horse, nervy, but I never saw him being aggressive.”
The people inside the home at the time of Tuesday’s shooting received minor injuries but were relatively unharmed. Mr Hodgson was named by locals as the Met confirmed it had referred the incident on to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on Thursday as a matter of protocol. The Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards has also been informed.
The watchdog is also expected to investigate all previous contact Mr Hodgson and his alleged victim had with police. Neighbours said on Tuesday that they were woken up by a burst of screaming and shouting.
The IOPC revealed more details about the investigation on Tuesday, including that they had reviewed police body cam footage and that an array of weapons had been found at the scene. The police watchdog said Mr Hodgson had been wearing body armour at the time, and had been carrying a sword and hatchet alongside a crossbow.
