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Double jeopardy man admits guilt | Double jeopardy man admits guilt |
(10 minutes later) | |
A Teesside man previously acquitted of the murder of a 22-year-old woman has finally admitted his guilt after a change in the double jeopardy law. | A Teesside man previously acquitted of the murder of a 22-year-old woman has finally admitted his guilt after a change in the double jeopardy law. |
Billy Dunlop had confessed to the 1989 murder of Julie Hogg, from Billingham. | Billy Dunlop had confessed to the 1989 murder of Julie Hogg, from Billingham. |
Due to the 800-year-old rule under which anyone acquitted by a jury cannot be retried for the same crime, he could only be prosecuted for perjury. | |
In April 2005 the law was changed and Cleveland Police re-opened the case, resulting in Dunlop's admission. | In April 2005 the law was changed and Cleveland Police re-opened the case, resulting in Dunlop's admission. |
Miss Hogg, a pizza delivery girl, had gone missing from her Billingham home, and was discovered months later by her mother, stuffed behind a bath panel. | |
Campaigned tirelessly | |
Dunlop, 43, a labourer who lived nearby and had had a brief relationship with her, was charged with the murder. | |
He faced two trials, but each time the jury failed to reach a verdict and he was formally acquitted in 1991. | |
However, while serving a seven-year sentence for assaulting a former girlfriend and her lover he confessed to a prison officer that he had carried out the killing. | |
He could not be tried again for the murder because of the double jeopardy rule and was sentenced to six years for perjury in 2000. | |
The victim's mother, Ann Ming, campaigned tirelessly for a change in the law. |