The first murderer to be jailed after changes to the 800-year-old double jeopardy law spearheaded by his victim’s mother has said he would have killed again had she not pursued her campaign for justice.
asserted
she → jail → justice
William Dunlop, known as Billy, on Wednesday started his fourth application with the Parole Board to move him to an open prison and consider his release.
asserted
Dunlop → know → release
Dunlop, now 63, strangled Julie Hogg in her home in Billingham, Co Durham, in 1989 and hid her mutilated body behind a bath panel.
Miss Hogg’s mother, Ann Ming, discovered her body there more than two months after her death.
asserted
mother → strangle → death
Dunlop had subjected the 22-year-old pizza delivery woman, who had a three-year-old son, Kevin, at the time, to a violent sexual assault after she rejected him when he left a rugby party.
asserted
he → subject → party
Prosecutors called it a ‘premeditated and truly horrendous’ attack.
asserted
Prosecutors → call → it
Dunlop was charged with her murder but two juries failed to reach a verdict in 1991 and he was then formally acquitted.
asserted
he → charge → 1991
In 1998, he was jailed for seven years for inflicting grievous bodily harm on a new partner.
asserted
he → jail → partner
While serving that sentence, he confided in a prison guard that he had indeed killed Miss Hogg and later admitted lying in his earlier trial – receiving a six-year sentence.
asserted
he → serve → sentence
Billy Dunlop was jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years in 2006 for the murder of Julie Hogg in 1989
Miss Hogg was just 22 when she was murdered and her body was hidden behind a bath panel
Dunlop believed nothing could be done in relation to the murder because of the double jeopardy law in place at the time, which stopped a person being tried twice for the same offence following an acquittal.
But following a 15-year campaign led by Mrs Ming to change the legislation, in 2006 he became the first person to be tried under the new rules following his confession.
uncertain
he → jail → confession
He pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years.
asserted
He → plead → years
Mrs Ming’s campaign for changes in the law was made into a four-part ITV drama last year, called I Fought the Law, starring Sheridan Smith.
asserted
I → make → Smith
At his parole hearing yesterday – only the 10th to be held in public – Dunlop admitted he would have killed again or committed serious violence had he not been stopped.
asserted
he → hold → violence
Asked by panel member Zaiada Bibi whether he regretted his confession, he said: ‘No, no, without a doubt, no.’
asserted
he → ask → doubt
‘I think I said this at the last parole that I thanked Mrs Ming for doing it because I’ve not hurt anybody else – by me being in prison all this time I’ve not hurt anybody
asserted
I → think → anybody
,’ he said.
asserted
he → say → ?
Asked if he believes he would have gone on to commit another murder or serious violence, he added: ‘I would say yes because that’s what my life was.’
asserted
life → ask → murder
He added that he would not have confessed if the double jeopardy law was not in place.
asserted
law → add → place
Actress Sheridan Smith, who played Miss Hogg's mother Ann Ming in the ITV drama I Fought the Law
asserted
I → play → Law
‘I would have tried to carry on suppressing it,’ he said.
asserted
he → try → it
Dunlop appeared via videolink to the International Dispute and Resolution Centre in London from an unnamed prison with his back to the camera, refusing to show his face.
asserted
Dunlop → appear → face
The Parole Board panel of three, headed by retired judge Nicholas Coleman, was meeting him in the prison.
asserted
panel → head → prison
Dunlop told the panel he could now ‘get’ the feelings of Miss Hogg’s family as he had recently lost his own son.
uncertain
he → tell → son
On whether he considers himself a risk to the public, he said: ‘No, I’m more frightened of them than they should be of me – I’m more concerned about people finding out where I am and causing me harm…
asserted
I → consider → harm
I don’t want to cause anybody any harm.’
asserted
I → want → harm
A prison psychologist and an independent psychologist have agreed that Dunlop should be released after finding a low risk of violence, increasing to moderate in the community.
asserted
risk → agree → community
Miss Hogg’s son, Kevin, told the hearing: ‘I can say categorically that time isn’t the great healer it’s purported to be.
asserted
it → tell → hearing
‘As the years pass, the pain of losing my mother to this murder remains acute.’
asserted
pain → pass → murder
The hearing continues.
asserted
hearing → continue → ?
The Aporia
