BBC's Ambulance covers Carol Hodgson's murder of two-year-old son

A heartbreaking episode of BBC's docu-series Ambulance aired on Monday (February 6) revealed the ambulance workers attending the scene where toddler Daniel, two, was murdered by his mother, Carol Hodgson, at their Guisborough home.

Viewers were left shocked by the depiction of the horrific events which saw ambulance crews respond to reports of a woman who wasn't breathing.

Shortly after arriving, the situation became even more desperate after workers discovered a child in the house had suffered a cardiac arrest.

As the event unfolded and in the aftermath, viewers were given an insight into how first responders deal with such terrible incidents.

One viewer said: "Really rough one tonight, that poor boy."

While another viewer commended the ambulance workers' actions in the face of such an awful situation, they said: "A truly heartbreaking episode this evening. You are ALL amazing and worth your weight in gold!"

The harrowing incident, which originally took place on February 2 last year, saw mother Carol Hodgson place a plastic bag over her son's head before slitting her wrists in a failed attempt to take her own life.

Hodgson left a note in her home for her mother to find which read: "Mama, sorry you don't want to see this, just ring the police! I am gone, I am so sorry. I love you. xxx."

She was arrested two days later and charged with her son's murder.

She had been due in court to attend a hearing to discuss Daniel's father having access to his child.

Teesside Crown Court heard how Hodgson took the premeditated decision to kill her son, placing a plastic bag of her son's head until he stopped breathing and then slashing her wrists in the bedroom of her home on Upper Garth Gardens.

Sentencing Hodgson to life in prison, Judge Paul Watson QC said: "She (Hodgson's mother) had found a note in the hallway which read, ‘Just ring the police Mam, don’t go into the bedroom, you don’t need to see it. I love you and I am so sorry’.

“There was another similar note stuck to the bedroom door. Other notes were recovered in which, among other things you said that the only way for you to protect Daniel was to ‘take him with you’ and which, taken together show that you had it in mind that you would kill your son and take your own life.

“There is no doubt but that this was a premeditated killing which had been planned by you in advance. You deliberately killed Daniel and then made a determined attempt to kill yourself which was prevented by the arrival of your mother."

The judge also commended the ambulance service for their hard work attempting to revive Daniel, before he sadly passed away.

Speaking outside the court, Daniel's father, Stefan Green, said: "This tragedy has broken our family, our friends and our community but we will rebuild.

"We never got to make a connection with my son, we never got to see his first steps, hear his first words and now because of the actions of an evil person, a person who should have been one of the two people who he should have felt safest with, there is an entire lifetime of firsts lost."

At the end of the episode, the sixth of series 10, ambulance staff could be seen gathering in HQ at a debrief where they received the update Daniel could not be saved.

The latest season of the series has followed the North East Ambulance Service as they respond to incidents across the region.