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THE man accused of strangling seven-year-old Sophie Hook was a loner who liked the company of young boys, a court heard yesterday.
The jury at Chester crown court also heard from witnesses who told of seeing Howard Hughes at various times on the day before Sophie's naked and bruised body was found washed up on a North Wales beach.
Hughes, 31, from Colwyn Bay, is accused of twice raping and then murdering Sophie after taking her from a tent in her uncle's garden in Llandudno. He denies all three charges.
One witness, George Westwater, said he met a man later identified as Hughes on July 29 as he walked his dog on the path...