When unknown 16-year-old actor Jason Hoganson got his big break with the film Empire state he could be forgiven for thinking his next step would be Hollywood.
Cast as a ‘Geordie Drifter’, the Newcastle native shared credits with Hollywood heavyweight Martin Landau and legendary Irish actor Ray McAnally.
Unfortunately, the 1987 gangsters and goons movie would prove pride before the fall, because Hoganson would instead become a convicted felon.
Now Hoganson has become the unwitting example of the Labor government’s controversial prisoner early release plan, which caused a political storm before it even broke out.
In July, the new Justice Minister, Shabana Mahmood, announced that 5,500 prisoners would be released in September and October to tackle prison overcrowding.
The scheme, known as SDS40, under which criminals will serve 40 percent of their sentence instead of half, started earlier this month for those serving less than five years and will continue next month for those serving five years or more .
Serious and repeat offenders were among the first batch of 1,700 prisoners released from September 10, with Labor blaming previous Tory governments for the chaos.
But by far the most striking figure to emerge that day was Hoganson, who gave photographers a cheeky thumbs up as he emerged from Durham prison.
However, it was only later that it became apparent that the 53-year-old had once been a very different kind of poster boy.
The clear skin color, the messy hair and the rugged, good appearance Empire state had been replaced by a tattooed, sunken face and a shaved scalp that framed a combative look that betrays lifelong problems.
Hoganson was born in Newcastle in 1970 and grew up with his parents, sister and two brothers in Elswick, one of the city’s most deprived areas.
Despite growing up in an ambitious family, Hoganson, unlike his siblings, fell in with the wrong crowd at an early age and began the slow spiral into antisocial behavior.
“I was placed in care when I was 13 because of my behavior,” Hoganson said in an interview. “I was just part of the gang in Elswick and following the crowd, and that’s how I got into trouble.”
Revolving door of hostels and homelessness
But it was the acting that offered Hoganson the most likely escape route when the producers of Empire state contacted his drama teacher, looking for local talent.
Hoganson, who had always had a natural affinity for acting at Newcastle’s Redewood school, had to compete against more than a hundred teenagers before he was offered the part.
Hoganson said at the time: “I’m very happy with the film. It is a low-budget photo, very down-to-earth and lifelike. I know acting is a difficult profession to break into, but acting and writing are what I’ve always wanted to do.
So difficult that the roles dried up and his career, like the film, disappeared without a trace. Hoganson was sucked back into the life of a criminal in Newcastle.
His own lawyer, Ian Crook, said when Hoganson admitted charges of assault by beating and breach of a restraining order in August this year, that Hoganson was struggling in the spotlight and that he “turned to drink and drugs and that led to a downward spiral”.
Hoganson’s life was chaotic and his mental health suffered as a result. He also began to lose contact with his five children, whom he fathered by three different women.
“The kids were just young, and I decided it was best for them that I not see them anymore,” he explained.
In 2002, Hoganson entered a revolving door of hostels and homelessness, with an unwelcome record of disruptions and evictions.
Mr Crook told the court in August that Hoganson, who had been diagnosed with mental health problems, had recently been a mentor to others while on remand.
Struggling with frequent bouts of homelessness, he said in 2012: ‘I could have gone back and lived with my mother, but she’s on her own and she has a beautiful house. I’m like the black sheep.
“My mother has done everything for me, she is a very sweet woman, but my family has had enough and I can’t blame them. I can’t keep doing this to them.”
‘Everywhere I go it pushes me away’
At the time, Hoganson admitted he slept rough at night and wandered between city center cafes during the day to keep warm.
“It’s freezing out there and it’s only going to get worse,” he continued. ‘But everywhere I go I’m just pushed away and told they can’t help me.
“All I need is my own place. That would mean that if any of my children wanted to visit me later in life, they could do so. I missed so much of their lives and no amount of money can get that back.”
When he was released from Durham prison, he was serving an 18-month sentence for assaulting his ex-girlfriend.
And despite his plea to be reunited with his children, Hoganson is said to have little contact with them.
One of those children, Charlotte Hoganson, now 28, told me The Telegraph: “We have nothing to do with him. He has nothing to do with us.”
She said he had played “no role” in her childhood and that she had “no idea” what he was up to now.
On Keir Starmer’s controversial early release programme, Hoganson raises questions about whether grateful former prisoners will choose a more enlightened path.
North Tyneside Magistrates Court heard on September 12 that the former actor allegedly punched his ex-girlfriend after visiting her home the day after his release.
He is also accused of violating the restraining order against the victim. Hoganson was arrested again and is currently back in jail.
A CPS spokesperson confirmed that Hoganson had been charged with assault and twice breached a restraining order and had subsequently been refused bail.
Hoganson will stand trial at South Tyneside Magistrates Court on October 30. He admitted breaching the order to one charge, but pleaded not guilty to the other charge and denies assault.
And should Hoganson be convicted again, it is tempting to ask whether he would be eligible for further parole programs that the government could unveil in the coming months.