A FINAL compensation claim was lodged last week for an Irishman who spent 27 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of murder.

However, the lawyer acting for Wexford man Sean Hodgson has said his client requires assistance with his finances and has already been targeted by conmen seeking tens of thousands of pounds – one through a suspect land deal.

The 59-year-old is struggling to come to terms with life outside prison a year-and-a-half after being released from custody for the 1979 murder of Teresa De Simone in Southampton.

He has given up on trying to get to grips with the internet, has difficulty crossing roads, suffers recurring nightmares and has been through several mobile phones which he can't use and keeps losing.

Now renting a property in Co Durham, Hodgson receives help from his community and the courts as he attempts to come to terms with life outside confinement.

"He has had good times but at the moment he is not; he is finding it very difficult to cope with finances," solicitor Julian Young told the Sunday Tribune.

"He can't deal with money; he has no concept of budgets or dealing with ordinary financial affairs," said Young.

Hodgson has had a special court-appointed solicitor take charge of his money and he is precluded from buying or selling property without assistance.

"Conmen have already tried to con him out of money. One said that if you give me £90,000 you can have some land a little later," said Young.

"It was a complete con but he didn't know that."

Hodgson has now applied, through his solicitor, for £1m (€1.2m) in compensation, the full amount available under law, representing a paltry €110 for every day he survived prison.

"Time will tell what the assessor says. We only got the final psychiatric report and I couldn't submit it until I spoke to him," said Young.

"Sean didn't want a huge amount of detail going into it [the application] because he is getting a little distressed about it, thinking about what he has lost over the years."

Efforts are ongoing to secure further compensation from the UK's Forensic Science Service (FSS), whose failure to provide evidence for an appeal ensured Hodgson spent an additional 10 unnecessary years behind bars.

That process, however, has stalled as the FSS continues to seek legal advice.

Twenty-two-year-old barmaid Teresa De Simone was strangled with her crucifix necklace in the car park of a pub when Hodgson was just 27.

Detectives investigating the case accepted his confession despite his prior false claims of committing around 200 other crimes.

David Lace, the actual killer, admitted to the killing in 1983 but was ignored by police.

After denying the crime during the court case, Hodgson was found guilty in 1982.