A SELF-confessed killer has outraged his victim's family by appealing against his six-year jail sentence for lying to two murder trial juries.

Labourer Billy Dunlop, 37, escaped the full weight of the law for killing pizza delivery girl Julie Hogg after the juries which he lied to failed to convict him in 1991.

He later confessed to the killing while in prison for assaulting a former girlfriend and her lover.

As a result, he was jailed for six years for perjury earlier this year.

He could not face another murder trial because of Britain's double jeopardy law, which Julie's family and The Northern Echo are campaigning to change.

The law means that once someone has been cleared of a crime, they cannot be charged with it again.

Last night, an angry Mrs Ming, who believes Dunlop should be serving a life sentence for murder, hit out at the decision to allow Dunlop to appeal.

"I can't believe he has been granted leave to appeal. It is outrageous when he could have had a maximum of 14 years.

"For two counts of perjury, he only got six years, but now he has been given the right to appeal against that.

"I can't believe that after ten years fighting for some form of justice, he has been given the right to appeal.

"I am just hoping the Court of Appeal will give us justice."

The Appeal Court has the power to increase Dunlop's sentence as well as reduce it.

Mrs Ming and her husband, Charlie, are preparing an impact statement, outlining the effect Julie's murder has had on them and Julie's teenage son, Kevin.

The couple, who have personally petitioned Home Secretary Jack Straw over the double jeopardy law, hope it will persuade the Appeal Court judge to increase Dunlop's sentence.

"Dunlop has got off with murder because of the double jeopardy law - now he has won the right of appeal. It's an insult to the family, an insult to Julie," said Mrs Ming.

Julie, who lived at Billingham, Teesside, disappeared on November 16, 1989. Her body was discovered stuffed behind a panel of her bath, three months later.

Stockton North MP Frank Cook, who has taken up the Mings case with the Government, said: "There are times when I think British justice is a bit too just.

"I think it is a bit of an affront to common sense that the man should have the nerve to even consider such a move, but I suppose really that it's indicative of the mental state of the fellow."

He added: "It's all terribly sad for the parents of Julie and I think it's sad for the system. There are times when I don't understand it.

"We have bent over backwards to be fair to such an extent there are times when it appears to be lunatic."

No one was available for comment at either of Dunlop's legal advisors, Watson Woodhouse solicitors in Middlesbrough, or barrister Ken Gillance's offices in Leeds, yesterday