In this week's episode of BBC2’s Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us, we meet a woman who took on the entire legal system to get justice
The second episode of BBC2’s Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us (9pm, see our TV Guide for full listings), about murder cases that have revolutionised crime detection and prosecution, tells the story of a woman who challenged the ancient law of double jeopardy.
Ann Ming’s daughter, 22-year-old Julie Hogg, was murdered in 1989 in Billingham, Teesside, and although Billy Dunlop later confessed while in prison for a different crime that he’d killed her, he’d already been tried and cleared and couldn’t stand trial again for the same crime.
Ann (pictured above), a truly remarkable woman, fought for 15 years to get justice for Julie and in 2006 Dunlop became the first person in 800 years to be charged with a crime of which he was previously acquitted.
‘It was devastating,’ says Ann.
‘You had a man who you knew had killed your daughter and he was walking free.’
Ann refused to give up.
She wrote to the Law Commission and Home Secretary asking for a change in the law.
She even presented her case to the House of Lords.
MORE: Catch up with the first episode of Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us
The campaign paid off and Dunlop was found guilty of Julie’s murder at a retrial, making him the first person to be convicted under the newly reformed double jeopardy law.
‘Some days I think about Julie more than others,’ says Ann.
‘But time is a healer and I believe in life after death, so I know I’ll meet her again one day.’
TV Times rating: *****
