Billy Dunlop brutally murdered Julie Hogg in 1989, but escaped justice for 15 years.
But who was he and how did he get away with his crime for so long?
Who was Billy Dunlop?
Billy was a labourer from Stockton on Tees, born in 1963.
In 1989, he brutally murdered a pizza delivery girl called Julie Hogg when she was just 22-years-old.
Julie was later found by her mum, hidden behind a bathroom panel at her home.
Local police suspected Billy because a set of keys belonging to Julie were found at a home he used to live in.
The keys, hidden under the floorboards, also had his fingerprints.
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Billy went to trial twice in 1991 but both juries failed to reach a verdict.
While in prison for the assault of another woman, Billy bragged about his murder of Julie.
He believed he would be protected by the Double Jeopardy Law, which prevents someone from being charged for the same crime twice.
However, Julie’s mother, Anne Ming, successfully campaigned for a landmark overturning of the law which allowed Billy to be jailed for 17 years.
As a result he served six years for perjury, but the law wouldn’t allow him to be re-charged.
Eventually Dunlop was jailed in 2006 for Julie’s murder following a landmark overturning of the law.
What happened to Julie Hogg?
Julie was a single mum to three-year-old Kevin at the time of her murder.
She was working as a pizza delivery driver, before she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
The police initially approached Julie’s case as a missing person’s report, but the discovery of her body showed them that this was much more serious.
Julie was finally given justice when her mother, and the family of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, successfully campaigned for the double jeopardy law to be overturned.
How long will Billy Dunlop spend in prison?
He pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to Julie’s murder, having admitted it to a prison guard seven years earlier.
Dunlop became the first person charged twice with the same offence after the 800-year-old double jeopardy laws were changed.
He was jailed for life in 2006 with a minimum tariff of 17 years.
Where is Billy Dunlop now?
In 2022, Dunlop was again refused a move to an open prison by the Ministry of Justice in the interest of public protection.
He remains in custody, but it was decided that his parole hearing would be held in public to remove secrecy around the process.
No decision will be made regarding his parole, as the public hearing was adjourned.
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