Billingham murderer Billy Dunlop could move to open prison

Billy Dunlop was the first person in the country to be charged twice with the same offence after the then 800-year-old double jeopardy laws were changed.

In 2006, he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years after admitting murdering his ex-girlfriend, 22-year-old mother Julie Hogg, in Billingham, in 1989.

The conviction was only possible thanks to her mother’s passionate campaign, supported by The Northern Echo, to secure justice for her daughter.

Ann Ming spent 15-years fighting to overturn the law after smirking Dunlop admitted his guilt about the horrific murder while serving another prison sentence.

Billy Dunlop (Image: Newsquest)

The confession came in 1999 after he was jailed for a separate assault and told the prison officer there was nothing anyone could do about his guilt because of the double jeopardy law.

The confession led to him being charged with perjury and jailed for six years.

Read more: Who's laughing now, Billy?

Following an unprecedented change in the law, he was eventually charged with murder again and sentenced at the Old Bailey.

Now the Parole Board has recommended Dunlop, 59, be moved to an open prison – a lower security jail where he could be granted temporary release on occasion.

But the Justice Secretary, who can block such moves, must decide whether he approves the plan.

The Parole Board said: “After considering in detail the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and the very full evidence presented at the hearing and in the dossier, the panel was not satisfied that Mr Dunlop was suitable for release.

“However, on considering the criteria for recommending placement in open conditions, the panel recommended that Mr Dunlop should be progressed in this way. It is now for the Secretary of State to decide whether he accepts the Parole Board’s recommendation.”

Julie Hogg (Image: Northern Echo)

Ms Hogg’s disappearance in November 1989 was initially treated as a missing person inquiry until she was found by her mother 80 days later.

The partially mutilated body of the mother, who had a three-year-old son, was discovered decomposing behind a bath panel. The court heard Ms Hogg was “subjected to a violent sexual assault” after she rejected Dunlop, who was branded by the Crown Prosecution Service a “dangerous killer” who tried to escape responsibility for a “premeditated and truly horrendous” attack.

Read more: Ann Ming's fight to overturn archaic double jeopardy law

Dunlop twice stood trial but each time a jury failed to reach a verdict. He was formally cleared but later confessed and admitting lying in court, boasting there was nothing anyone could do about it.

He was then jailed for six years for perjury and afterwards charged with the murder again once the law changed.

In his second Parole Board review Mr Dunlop, who gave evidence at a hearing alongside officials and his probation officer, did not ask to be released but indicated he hoped to be transferred to an open prison.

Julie's campaigning mother, Ann Ming

Parole Board judges found that at the time of his offending, Dunlop had a “willingness to use extreme violence” fuelled by alcohol, drugs and his friends, a document detailing the decision said.

He had “difficulties with relationships, thought about sex a lot, and felt entitled to sex.

“His attitude towards women had been problematic and he had an interest in sexual violence.”

Dunlop also found it “difficult to understand the impact of his behaviour on others.”

The Justice Secretary will only grant a transfer to open prison if the inmate is deemed to be “at low risk of absconding and where a period in open prison is considered essential to inform future decisions about release and to prepare for possible release on licence into the community”, the Parole Board added.

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