A TEESSIDE mother campaigning to see her daughter's killer brought to justice met a Home Office minister yesterday to discuss changes to the double jeopardy law.

Ann Ming, of Stockton, whose 22-year-old daughter Julie Hogg was murdered in 1989, feared that a planned Bill to scrap the rule preventing people being tried twice for murder had been shelved.

When Julie's killer Billy Dunlop, of Billingham, was originally charged with her murder, two juries failed to reach a verdict and he was set free, but he later confessed to the crime.

Because of the double jeopardy law, he could not be retried for murder and he was jailed for perjury. He received a six-year sentence in 2000.

Last night Mrs Ming, who with her husband Charlie has been campaigning for a change in the law for 12 years with the help of The Northern Echo, said she felt reassured that the Bill would go before parliament.

"We met the Home Office minister Keith Bradley and he assured us that it hasn't been put back.

"A White Paper on the Bill will come out in the spring and will be sent to us and we won't rest until we see it in black and white.

"The main thing is that the Bill will be retrospective. We've still got a long way to go yet but it's a step in the right direction."

Stockton North MP Frank Cook accompanied the Mings to the Home Office. He said last night that he never believed there was a danger of the Bill being shelved.

A Home Office spokesman said the Bill was likely to go before the next parliamentary session in the autumn.