Getting Away with Murder One Life

In November 1989, Julie Hogg disappeared from her home in Billingham on Teesside.

Almost three months after she went missing, Julie's mother, Ann Ming, returned to her house.

This is Grange Avenue, Billingham, where our Julie lived.

I remember it as though it was yesterday.

I'm stood here now, and it's just as though I'm back all that time ago.

February 5th, 1990, called to the house with my grandson Kevin.

Walked into the house, smelled the putrid smell.

Outwardly, I was like slow-motion. I walked up the stairs into the bathroom,

and as I leaned over, my knee went against the bath panel

and the smell came out stronger from under the bath panel.

With working in an operating theatre for so long, I just knew what the smell was.

I was praying, "Please, God, don't let it be Julie",

but knowing in my own mind what it was.

I just bent down and pulled it open

and there I found Julie's decomposing body.

Just absolutely hysterical.

I ran down the stairs, screaming, "She's under the bath, she's under the bath."

I was right all along that something had happened to her,

but I never dreamt something had happened to her in that house.

And I think wanting to know what had happened to her,

who'd done this to her, just gave me inner strength.

A local man, Billy Dunlop, was quickly arrested.

He knew Julie, and just hours before her disappearance,

he'd told a neighbour he was going round to see her.

But the case against him was circumstantial.

He was tried twice at Newcastle Crown Court,

but on both occasions, the jury failed to reach a verdict

and after his second trial, in October 1991, he was formally found not guilty.

The Double Jeopardy law, which was introduced to protect the innocent,

meant Dunlop could never be tried again for Julie's murder.

Ann Ming and her husband Charlie live in Middlesbrough in the north-east of England.

For 17 years, Ann has campaigned for justice for her murdered daughter.

It's May 2006 and at a hearing at the Court of Appeal in London,

five High Court judges will decide if Billy Dunlop can be tried again for killing Julie.

If they agree, he will become the first man in 800 years

to face a new trial for an offence he's already been cleared of.

Ann's fight for justice began with the dreadful discovery of her daughter's body.

Throughout the days, you know, the not knowing.

And then when I found her body I thought, "There's nothing else I can do now for her

"but to see, you know, justice for her."

And it's just taken just so long.

Ann has always been convinced that Billy Dunlop killed her daughter.

In October 1991, on the night of his acquittal,

Ann had to watch as Billy Dunlop pleaded his innocence on television.

For 20 months the police have been looking in the wrong direction.

They've been pointing the finger at me for 20 months

and they've found now that it was in the wrong direction,

and I would like them now to reopen this case and start looking in the right direction.

The night that the trial ended, we had the news on

and, obviously, it was talking about him being acquitted.

And then the next thing that came on was an interview that he'd done,

and it was just like adding insult to injury.

Are you seeking recompense, compensation?

Well, I feel that I should be given something for the 20 months of hell.

You just... It's just sickening, just watching him.

Just watching him there, you know? Sitting there on television,

you know, saying he is innocent and he'd been through 20 months of hell!

We've been through 17 years of hell because of what he did to our daughter.

Shortly after, Dunlop returned to his home town of Billingham.

Although he had been found not guilty,

his reputation for violence had been enhanced by the trial.

Thinking double jeopardy had put him beyond the law,

he began openly bragging that he had been responsible for Julie's death.

To hear people telling us that he was boasting in pubs that he'd killed her,

you can't imagine what it was like. It was just horrible.

And he was walking free, getting on with his life and he's bragging he's killed your daughter.

And an 800-year-old law

stopped us getting justice for her, that just wasn't right.

Anybody else who had got off by the skin of their teeth

when they'd killed somebody, you would lay low and behave yourself,

but not Dunlop. He got more brave.

He threatened to kill a woman and he attempted to kill another man and woman,

and when he gets out after this, if he gets convicted and he gets out, he'll kill again.

In May 1998 Billy Dunlop attacked a man and an ex-girlfriend

with a baseball bat and a barbecue fork.

Shaun Fairweather was left fighting for life and his face

needed rebuilding with metal plates and wires.

Dunlop pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm and received seven years in prison.

Even then, he thought he was beyond the reach of the law for murdering Julie.

But a prison officer secretly recorded him admitting to Julie's murder.

'I can't get caught for this.'

Cleveland Police began a new investigation, led by Detective Superintendent Dave Duffey.

We were determined to put him away for as long as possible,

because we knew once he came out he would commit another offence,

he would attack someone, and next time, he might kill someone else.

He was a really violent individual, he just can't help himself.

In October 1999, Dunlop was interviewed once again by the police.

The double jeopardy law meant he couldn't be questioned about Julie's murder,

but he could be interviewed about committing perjury by lying at the earlier trials.

'Is it right that at both trials you denied killing Julie Hogg?'

'Were you acquitted of the murder of Julie Hogg?'

'Did you tell the truth at both your trials?'

'Did you kill Julie Hogg?'

He actually looked solemn and slightly beaten during that interview.

He just sat with his head down, spoke very, very slowly.

He was very, very calm.

I wasn't expecting him to admit to the murder during that interview.

I think he thought all along that if he got sentenced to this,

he could come back out and he would never, ever be charged with murder.

He does have a photographic memory,

remembered the times and dates of his court appearances and what went on.

He could remember everything about it, and he could remember in detail how he killed her.

Because of the double jeopardy law, Dunlop still couldn't be tried again for murder.

But he had lied in court, so he could be charged with two counts of perjury.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years.

He might have been charged with perjury, that was only lying in court.

That's not a murder conviction. He probably thought to himself, "I'll do that and it will shut her up."

He was totally wrong. It got me going even more.

He'll think, "Oh, that bloody woman again", you know?

"Why doesn't she just shut up?"

He probably hates me as much as I hate him.

When I think of it and I hear my daughter's voice

in the middle of the night and you wake up here and it's...

Well, it's something he's done that him or me can't replace.

Life. It's one word, but it's a lot.

We sat and we thought, "Well, that can't be right, surely?"

But it was the law, and you didn't think it could ever be changed. That's how you felt at the time.

I said to Charlie, "There's no guideline, no test case,"

and that was what made me determined I was gonna set about getting this law changed.

Ann began to campaign for a change in the law through meetings, in newspapers and on television.

For every door that's open to us, there's been a door shut.

You've got people opposing it.

Seeing a Home Secretary, then going to see the Law Commission,

then the Law Commission's waiting for their report. That took two years.

If I think about us, before we lost Julie

I could never have envisaged myself going meeting people like this,

but once this happened, I didn't think about Jack Straw being a Home Secretary.

Jack Straw's a father.

I am proud of what Ann's done.

In my opinion, she's done everything possible.

I thought, in myself, I thought she wouldn't get anywhere, you know?

But I was wrong.

Julie was her daughter.

In April 2005, Ann's campaigning won through.

The 800-year-old double jeopardy law was changed.

Now, people previously cleared could be tried again if there was new and compelling evidence.

Dunlop had admitted killing Julie on tape,

and his case was listed as the first to be heard under the new rules.

-I'm cold.

-I'm cold.

I'm cold and I'm nervous and just churned up inside.

It's May 17th 2006 and the Court of Appeal is holding a unique hearing.

It must decide if the new evidence against Billy Dunlop

is strong enough to quash his original not guilty sentence.

You don't know how stressed I am, honestly you don't.

I really am this morning, I'm really worried.

I feel sick when I see him, absolutely sick.

I wish he'd just blooming confess to it and...

-It's 9 o'clock now.

-I know. We're all right, we have got half an hour. It's only over the road.

The evidence will be heard by five of the most experienced High Court judges in the country.

Ann and Charlie will be in the public gallery,

just feet away from the dock where Billy Dunlop will stand.

I think he thought he was above the law.

You see, he thought it could never happen, he'd never be retried again,

because he knew about the double jeopardy law

and he thought he was clever, and he could confess and he was one of the untouchables.

He was using it all along, wasn't he?

But what he failed to realise was the love that a mother and father feel for their child.

And that's what's kept us going, given us the strength to fight on.

They say about his human rights, what about Julie's human rights?

You know, he took her life. His human rights should be taken from him. A life for a life.

Ann knows that Dunlop will argue that to try him again

will breach his human rights, and that the publicity surrounding her campaign

will mean he won't get a fair trial.

Two hours later, and the double jeopardy law

that has stood for 800 years is consigned to history.

I can't believe what's happened today.

We've just come out of the court and Billy Dunlop's had his original acquittal quashed,

so that will lead the way to a retrial and hopefully a conviction for the murder of Julie.

16 and a half years we've waited for it.

I just can't believe it's happened now.

Hopefully, by the 17th anniversary of Julie's death,

we'll finally have Billy Dunlop convicted of her murder.

The next time Ann and Charlie come to London

they will be at the Old Bailey to hear Billy Dunlop

accused once again of murdering their daughter.

But they don't know whether he'll finally admit it.

On her return to the north-east Ann visits Julie's son,

20-year-old Kevin, who was just a toddler when his mother died.

Mammy...

Police, friend, anybody. Just let us know you're alive, Julie. That's all.

Kevin was three years old when Julie was murdered

and he wasn't told the truth initially.

We thought that was for the best, with him being so young.

But we know now that the truth was always best.

Trying to explain to a 13-year-old son that his mother

hadn't slipped and hit her head in the bath, as we told him,

that she'd actually been murdered, and the man who'd murdered her

wasn't in prison for killing his mam, it was a really, really difficult time for Kevin.

Are you all right about next week, are you?

Getting a bit churned up about it?

Churned, yeah.

What do you mean, worry about next week?

What his plea's gonna be.

I feel a bit like that, but at least next week we'll know one way or the other.

At the end of the day, we'll get him convicted for killing your mam, won't we?

-What memories do have of your mum?

-None at all.

None whatsoever.

Just memories of, like, what you've told me, isn't it, really?

Sort of second-hand memories of your mum?

They're always best-off second-hand, though.

What do you mean by that?

The funny stories, like when she was younger.

It's like, it's nice. We've had some laughs as well, haven't we?

-Yeah.

-It's strange, actually, because two or three years ago

I went back to the house and the person who lives in it now

showed us around and, like, memories, you know? Smells.

It's July 2006, and Ann and Charlie set off to the Old Bailey for Dunlop's new hearing.

In order to protect innocent people,

the new law states that defendants can only be re-tried one more time.

Ann and Charlie know that if Dunlop walks free this time,

he will never be brought to justice.

This is our last chance. There's no other chance of a retrial or anything else.

You know, if we don't succeed with this conviction, that's it.

We'll never get one.

So there will be no closure whatsoever.

I could never, ever, forgive him for what he's done.

Anybody who's had a child murdered and they say they forgive the killer,

I just don't understand their logic at all. I just don't.

I'll never, ever, forgive him for what he's done.

The hearing is listed for the Old Bailey's Number One Court.

Ann's fight has brought Billy Dunlop to the same dock

as the most notorious figures in British criminal history.

Everything is in place for the case to go ahead, but no-one knows yet

if Dunlop will deny everything again and force a full retrial.

He's due to enter his plea at 10.30am.

I can't believe that.

We've just found out now that the court case is not going ahead at half past ten.

it is 4 o'clock now, and it doesn't look as though he's gonna even enter a plea today.

What is the point of us coming here, getting all stressed out about this

and it doesn't look as if anything's gonna happen?

It just doesn't make... It doesn't make blooming sense.

We might as well pack our bags.

I just feel like getting a bloody train and going home this morning, really. I'm sick of it. Sick of it.

Can't even get it right now.

I mean, what's the damn delay now?

Why did the barrister last week more or less imply he was gonna enter a plea,

cos he said he probably would get to know the day before and he'd let us know.

And I said "No matter what the barristers say about entering a plea, it's up to Dunlop."

And he's that much of a bastard to put us through all the tosh we've gone through,

just to plead not guilty and just be blooming awkward.

Surely somebody must have some bloody idea, apart from damn Dunlop himself.

I think he's running the show here.

It just... It just seems like fate. Is something else gonna go wrong now?

Oh, I'm gonna start crying in a minute because I'm just so fed up.

Ann and Charlie decide they can't just sit and wait in their hotel room.

What I've decided to do now is, we're gonna go to the Old Bailey ourselves,

go and see if we can see the court listings, see what time Dunlop's up,

see which court and see whether it's a Plea and Directions Hearing,

as we thought it was gonna be, or what it's gonna be,

just so that we've seen it in black and white.

This is not how it's supposed to work, there's supposed to be professional people

who are supposed to be helping you as victims' families.

I mean, where's the balance in the scales of justice in favour of the victims' families?

What's happening? You know, I don't suppose Dunlop's having to try and find out

which court he's in and...

We'll be having a stroke before 4 o'clock.

I hope not.

All I need now is some snotty blooming clerk on the door

or security man saying, "You can't come and look at the listings."

There, Dunlop.

Defendant to attend.

Defendant will attend. Plea...

What is it? Plea and Case Management. Right, just a minute.

Let me phone the police and I'll tell the police what I've read.

When it says "plea",

does that mean he's gonna enter his plea

or is that different to Plea and Direction, Plea and Case Management?

I mean, to be quite honest, I could just cry.

Well, it looks as though he's gonna plead not guilty, doesn't it?

The hearing is set for 4pm.

It now looks likely that Dunlop will plead not guilty to the murder charge.

If this happens, a full re-trial must go ahead.

I feel like it's the longest walk I've ever had in all my life.

-We are not going too fast for you, Charles? Are you all right?

-Mmm.

-Are we going in together?

-Yeah.

After you.

The police interview tape of Dunlop admitting he killed Julie

will be the main evidence if the Prosecution have to prove their case.

It means Dunlop's chances of being found not guilty are slim,

but he also knows that admitting murder will mean it will be years before he gets out of prison.

After an hour, Ann and Charlie emerge.

He's pleaded not guilty,

so now they've set a date for him to come back again

on the week beginning 11 September.

I just got really upset just listening to him standing up and saying not guilty.

You just can't believe this, how he can...

how he can...plead not guilty when he has already confessed in court,

the acquittal's been quashed and he's still, STILL playing the system.

I don't know whether he really believes that he's gonna end up getting off.

-I don't know what he believes.

-There's something radically wrong with him.

I don't understand it.

He's admitted it and then there's this.

It's just like... It's just like a continuation of the nightmare

that we've had since the day she went missing.

Dunlop will appear at the Old Bailey again in nine weeks' time.

His not guilty plea means a full hearing. Fifteen years after the last trial,

Ann and Charlie will have to sit through

the horrific details of their daughter's murder all over again.

What I found difficult - and it's how many would feel - I mean,

with the very beginning of the first trial and that,

it wasn't very promising, was it? The results.

When I think, I think, "Why did he walk out of court?"

I always said, "It's wrong."

I mean, maybe I'm awkward, one thing and another, I don't know,

but I think if they take a life they should give a life.

What do you want? Can I have a Bounty, please? And a Snickers.

For the past ten years, Charlie has been a voluntary worker at the local hospital coffee shop.

Well, I work here because, well, it keeps me sane, to be exact.

Before that I used to be sat at home starting to think about one thing,

then another, then another, then going back to the first one.

It's continual.

You're forever thinking of it.

If I'm stood here and a young woman comes in

and she's similar to my daughter,

well, then your mind starts, you know?

All over again.

I mean, you get to the point, you can't forget it but you've got to live with it.

There's times I thought "I'm just on the point of giving up, really."

Ann's campaign has dominated her life from the day in 1991 when she watched Dunlop walk free.

Her niece Angela has seen at first hand the effect it's had on her.

'It's been every hour of every day, every week, for Ann.

'The minute she's woke up,'

that's all she thinks about.

How she carries on, I don't know.

And the same for Charlie.

It must be so painful for them both.

With him confessing, though, won't they use that?

Well, they use that but, I mean,

he's confessed, but he can still say... He can still plead not guilty. It doesn't make sense.

'She'll be elated.'

In the short term,

she'll be really, you know, she'll feel she's done something, achieved something.

In the long term, I don't know how it will affect her.

She hasn't grieved yet - she's had 17 years and she's still been unable to grieve for her daughter -

so, hopefully, she can start that process of grieving after it's all finished.

Dunlop will have one more chance at the start of the trial to change his plea to guilty,

which would save Ann and Charlie from hearing the appalling evidence.

When Ann and Charlie want to reflect back, they go to the crematorium where Julie's funeral took place.

It's just a few more days now till we go to the Old Bailey.

To, hopefully,

hear Billy Dunlop plead guilty to killing Julie.

So we just felt it was appropriate to come here today,

just to reflect back on what's happened.

And, hopefully, next Monday,

we'll be able to get some form of closure on the last nearly 17 years.

And, hopefully, get him convicted for killing Julie.

'It was April 21st...

'1990,

'and the day is a bit of a blur.

'I remember going to the doctor's the day before.'

I said to the doctor, "You know that song, Make The World Go Away?"

"Can you give me some tablets to make tomorrow go away?"

Because I just didn't want to go to the funeral. Because it's like the final thing.

I remember getting to the church and they were carrying the coffin. Me and Charlie walking behind the coffin.

I looked at the coffin and I thought,

"This is all abnormal, it should be me in the coffin, not Julie." I remember going hysterical.

Just all of us actually seeing the coffin -

it brings it all home that she's dead.

And, no matter what, she's never coming back.

Never. All her life to look forward to, 22 years old, with a young son of three.

All gone because of an evil killer.

If it had been an illness she'd died of, or a traffic accident,

I think you could accept that more.

But when it's been somebody that's deliberately taken your child's life,

you don't want to accept anything about anything.

I didn't want a headstone, I didn't want anything.

I just wanted them to scatter her ashes in the garden of remembrance.

I thought, "I don't need to go

"to sit at the crematorium to think about her, because she's in my thoughts every day."

But looking back now, I wish I'd done it differently. I wish I'd had a headstone and done that for her.

But I didn't. I got the bench, but I didn't really...

I wasn't really thinking clear to be quite honest.

I'd rather have a legacy, like I've done with the law change.

Because changing the law was the only way to get the justice.

And I feel it's a lasting legacy to Julie.

Every case that goes through, the double jeopardy changes,

will be a lasting reminder to what we did for Julie.

-Hi.

-Hi.

-Can I come in?

-Looks like bad news, two of you...

Oh, no, no, no.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Braithwaite has known Ann since the day Julie's body was discovered.

Are you the bringer of bad news?

No, what I wanted to do was just give you an update on what's going to happen on Monday.

What we're expecting is that he is going to enter a plea on Monday.

-Right.

-But it won't be finalised on Monday.

It looks like Dunlop might finally plead guilty to murdering Julie.

But, before sentence, the Prosecution want the court to know

that he also severely injured her after death,

and had been violent towards other women. This ought to mean he stays in jail longer.

It's critical that we get that evidence in.

In order that the sentencing judge, whoever he or she is, is fully aware of the circumstances

-of not just this case, but of Dunlop's previous behaviour.

-Right.

That will affect the final sentence that he is sentenced to.

Does Dunlop know this is going to happen?

No, he doesn't at this stage.

-He doesn't know?

-He will by Monday.

But he won't know that till after his plea's been entered

-and after it's been adjourned, is that right?

-That's right.

So, really, in a way, it's not like Dunlop having a say about adjourning things,

-it's from the Crown Prosecution and your side?

-It is, very much.

Nine weeks after she last travelled to the Old Bailey,

and Ann is in London where she hopes to finally see Billy Dunlop admit to the murder of her daughter.

But two hours before the case is due to begin,

she hears that it might not be able to go ahead.

It seems the right judge might not be sitting.

Now, after we've met with the CPS,

we are now told that there's less than a 50% chance that Dunlop's going to enter a plea.

So, I feel as though it's all been a waste of time.

It's just getting all too much.

Just wasting your time coming today.

I feel as though everything's just going downhill again.

Ann rings the Director of Public Prosecutions office to see why things have apparently changed.

You see, what I can't understand is,

they knew that this was coming up.

It's already been adjourned once and, I mean, you know, we just want to hear him say the words guilty.

And, I mean, they have got us all down to London, you know, the police and CPS and everybody's come down.

From what I understand, the judge who was taking the case

can hear the plea but they said it's unlikely that they will.

I don't understand why this judge has took the case if they're not prepared to let him enter his plea.

We just want him to be able to enter his plea.

It's just so stressful, you know, for us.

Yeah.

OK.

Well, thanks very much. Thank you. Bye.

Right. They say they're balancing the scales in favour of the victim's family?

Well, look! Look at the state of us! You know, all this extra stress for what? For nothing.

To go to the blooming court again, today, to hear it is adjourned again!

After spending the morning in their room,

Ann and Charlie head for the Old Bailey.

It now seems that Dunlop might enter a plea after all.

We've been in a time warp for nearly 17 years.

You can't imagine what it was like, it was just horrible.

And he was walking free, getting on with his life.

And he's bragging he's killed your daughter?!

I have gone with it all the way. I've never, ever give up.

I just want to get him convicted

for Julie.

I feel as though, as a mum,

I've done everything I could possibly do.

It's taken nearly 17 years,

but we finally heard Billy Dunlop confess in court he murdered our daughter.

How did you feel when you finally heard the word "guilty"?

Just relieved. Just relieved.

Just so worried it would go wrong.

Thanks very much, everybody.

I just feel a bit numb, actually,

because it just happened all that quick.

And knowing now that we've...

we've achieved what we set out to do.

That was to get Dunlop retried for killing Julie.

So I just feel a bit numb that it's just happened that quick.

I thought it would take longer than...

You know, I thought there would be arguments from the defence.

But just going in at two and...

35 minutes later we were out.

He's entered the plea and...

just going to be brought back to be sentenced.

Nearly 17 years...

after killing Julie.

Ann is taken to Snow Hill Police Station nearby.

She's never heard the confession Dunlop made to the police

and the media are clamouring for it to be released.

For the first time, she's about to hear the moment

when the man that killed her daughter finally admitted to the crime.

-It might upset you, but if you want me to stop it, just let me know.

-OK.

-TAPE RECORDING:

-'Did you kill Julie Hogg?'

'Did you realise, at that point, that you'd killed her?'

At least we've heard from his own words now what happened that night.

And one thing, I suppose, that you can say positive out of it,

she was definitely dead when he put her behind the bath.

Cos that was my main worry, that she was still alive and he left her behind the bath to die.

It hasn't made it any easier but at least I know she was dead.

Biggest mistake was letting him in.

Are you OK?

-I'm fine, yeah, fine.

-Charlie, are you all right?

You don't feel like it's an achievement, you feel as though

we've done everything we could possibly do to get justice for Julie.

It's just been a long battle.

We didn't think... We thought it would change, but we didn't think it would apply to our case.

There was always that element of doubt.

Other countries where the double jeopardy law exists,

like Australia, India and Canada, have been watching the case closely.

The press conference called for after the hearing, has attracted news crews from all over the world.

Ann could never have realised the global impact her campaign would have.

-Thank you very much for coming.

-"We knew Dunlop was responsible.

"It's been a long and difficult journey to see him standing in the dock at court today.

"He's done everything he could do to avoid justice,

"but his lying and scheming have eventually all been in vain.

"We made a promise to ourselves that Julie's killer would be punished

"and everyone we have approached over the years has helped me in some way to reach that goal.

"No-one can know what it's like to lose a daughter in such horrific circumstances

"and our family will live with her death forever.

"It is a life sentence and a deep sadness that will never go.

"We would give everything to have her back today.

"Through our love for Julie we have helped leave a lasting legacy

"that we hope has paved the way for other families to obtain justice."

Thank you.

"I have nothing but praise and admiration for Ann and her husband.

"Together they have fought and won the campaign to change the double jeopardy law

"that has been a cornerstone of British justice for 800 years."

I would like to say to everybody who has helped us, to thank you.

But if you would just give us time to reflect on what happened today.

I'm just shaking. I didn't expect all this interest.

Right. Thanks everybody. Thank you.

-Shall I take those?

-No, I'm all right.

-Are you all right?

-Yeah. Thanks, everybody.

Billy Dunlop was sentenced to life in prison,

with a recommendation that he serve at least 17 years.

The day after the trial, and Ann is back in Middlesbrough.

This is the Daily Mirror and the headlines, "Mum who wouldn't give up".

And then the voice of the Mirror -

"Justice at the double - justice has been done 15 years

"after evil Billy Dunlop thought he'd got away with murder.

"Julie's mother Ann deserves credit for never giving up hope

"and campaigning tirelessly for yesterday's verdict."

Seeing all these headlines in the paper, I know it's not surreal,

it's not a dream or nightmare, it's true.

"Double jeopardy joy".

Wonderful.

If there's an afterlife she will be saying to me, "Well done, our mam."

So... I'm going to get upset now!

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