Double Jeopardy killer Billy Dunlop may still be released even though he has been found to have committed more historic offences he was never convicted of.
Dunlop, 61, has agreed to give evidence in a rare public hearing of the Parole Board which will decide whether he is released or moved to an open prison now that he has served the 17 year tariff imposed as a life term for the murder of Julie Hogg in 1989.
The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, attended by members of Julie's family, will assess Dunlop's risk to the public if he goes free.
Dunlop was eventually jailed for Julie Hogg’s brutal murder thanks to her mother’s devotion to fighting for justice.
Ann Ming, supported by a long-running campaign by The Northern Echo, fought for 15 years to overturn the 800-year-old double jeopardy law, which prevented people being tried twice for the same offence.
The court heard today (Monday, December 16) that the panel has already decided that Dunlop committed more offences that never made it to court and he revelled in the notoriety his violent reputation brought him.
The panel chair - a retired judge whose name will not be publicly revealed - said the panel had considered 900 pages detailing "historic allegations against Mr Dunlop which may be relevant to his risk but have not resulted in convictions".
The offences were not described in the hearing, but the chairman said: "He cultivated the notoriety his violent behaviour brought him. Many of those injured were frightened of him and did not make complaints against him."
He said the panel had made a finding of fact that Dunlop carried out the offences "on the balance of probabilities".
Dunlop continues to deny he is responsible for the historic offences.
Despite the findings, Dunlop could still be released into the community - although the court was told all key workers in his case support him being sent to a less restricted prison.
Dunlop was only jailed for life because his victim's mother refused to allow him to get away with murder.
He strangled 22-year-old Julie to death in her flat in Billingham, County Durham, but two juries were unable to reach a verdict on the murder and he was acquitted both times.
Dunlop would later boast of murdering Julie, safe in the knowledge that the archaic law of double jeopardy meant he couldn't be tried again.
However, Julie's mother, Ann Ming, fought for years to have the law changed and Dunlop was eventually brought to justice.
Mrs Ming and Julie's son Kevin, who was aged three at the time of the murder, sat in court today to hear Dunlop's prison offender manager say she believed he was safe to be moved to a lower security prison setting and demonstrated remorse for her murder.
The manager, who was not named, told the hearing: "In my professional opinion, as someone who regularly listens to people say they are remorseful but do not feel genuine remorse, in my assessment he does have remorse."
She said that he had been keeping a diary of sexual thoughts but none of them were violent.
The manager said: "He says that sexual fantasies, if he has any, are entirely of consensual sex and have not been violent."
She added: "He has shown empathy, he does have a good understanding of the impact of his behaviour."
Dunlop murdered Julie in 1989 but he was not convicted of the offence until 2006 when he was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum tariff of 17 years.
It came after a tireless campaign by Mrs Ming and The Northern Echo to change the 800-year-old 'double jeopardy' law, which meant a person could not be tried twice for the same offence.
In 2005 the Labour government repealed the law after Ann's campaign and the new law has since been used to secure 13 convictions, including Stephen Lawrence's killers.
Julie, 22, went missing from her home in Billingham on November 16, 1989.
Despite police searching her home, it was Mrs Ming who found her body behind a bath panel at her home 10 weeks later.
Speaking in October 2019, she said 'I worked in operating theatres as a nurse and I had a horrible feeling.'
Ann went into the bathroom where she noticed the bath panel was loose and when she pulled it away she discovered Julie's naked body.
Builder's labourer Dunlop was charged with murder, but two juries failed to reach a verdict on the case and he was set free.
Dunlop, who had a history of violent assaults, had been at a stag party and on the way home called in to see a friend who lived next door to Julie.
When he left, he noticed Julie's light was on and told his friend he planned to call in and say hello, making him the last person to see Julie alive.
Dunlop went into the flat with the intention of having sex, his trial heard.
But when the pizza delivery girl rejected him, Dunlop sexually assaulted her before killing the young mother in what prosecutors called a "premeditated and truly horrendous" attack.
The case was heard at Newcastle Crown Court in May 1991. The jury failed to reach a verdict, so the judge ordered a retrial but following a second hung jury, Dunlop was acquitted.
In 1997 he was sentenced to seven years for grievous bodily harm after stabbing his ex-girlfriend with a carving fork and beating up her new lover.
He continued to threaten his ex from prison, sending her a letter saying that when he got out, he'd do what he'd done to Julie – and kill her.
His ex took the letter to the police, but as Dunlop had been acquitted, their hands were tied because of the antiquated double jeopardy legislation.
The best police could hope for was to convict him of lying under oath.
In 1999, a prison officer secretly recorded Dunlop saying when he called round to Julie's house, he'd told her about a fight he'd been in.
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She'd nervously laughed, which annoyed him, so he strangled her.
Dunlop was convicted of perjury but sentenced to only six years.
Mrs Ming began a relentless campaign that ended with the law change in 2006 and finally in Dunlop's conviction 17 years after he murdered Julie and callously hid her body.
The hearing continues.
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