Where is the real Ann Ming now? What the woman behind ITV's I Fought The Law is doing today

It took seventeen years, but after a long fight for justice, Ann Ming eventually managed to change the double jeopardy law, despite facing insurmountable grief, after the murder of her daughter, Julie Hogg.

Now, 36 years on from the murder, Ann Ming’s inspiring story has been made into a four-part ITV series, with Sheridan Smith playing Ann. The series details how Ann found her daughter’s body beneath her bathtub, and, despite knowing who killed her daughter, she still had to fight to see him prosecuted, due to an ancient, out-dated law.

Speaking to Cosmopolitan UK about the series, Ann revealed that she has been contacted by many production companies over the years about dramatising her story, but that she couldn't imagine anyone besides Sheridan Smith playing her.

"Since the law change, I've been approached by different television companies. But I just thought, 'I don't know' but when [this team] got in touch with me and said that they were going to ask Sheridan Smith to play me, I thought there's no other actor who could do it as good," Ann revealed. "I've watched everything she's ever been, I think she's a brilliant actress and of course, she'd northern as well, which helps."

So, what else do we know about where the real Ann Ming is now? And how has her journey continued?

Mother of three Ann Ming was originally a theatre nurse from County Durham. Married to Charlie, who was of Chinese descent, she was used to facing discrimination and protecting her loved ones (the Ming family was the only mixed-race Chinese family in the area at the time).

Ann had a strong relationship with her three children, and was particularly close to her daughter, 22-year-old Julie Hogg. Julie, who also had a three-year-old son at the time, Kevin, was recently separated from her husband and working as a pizza delivery driver in the area.

Tragically, in November 1989, Julie was the victim of a brutal sexual assault and murder at the hands of William ‘Billy’ Dunlop, who lived next door. Due to multiple police failures, her body remained undiscovered for three months, until Ann herself found it underneath the bath in Julie's home.

In the English legal system, the ‘double jeopardy’ law is an 800 year old piece of legislation which effectively means someone who has been accused and acquitted for a crime cannot face trial again for the same crime.

This is why Dunlop was initially only charged for perjury despite his confession, as he had previously been acquitted for Julie’s murder.

“It was a common sense approach [to change the law],” Ann told The Telegraph. “Never mind that the law was 800 years old. That didn’t matter to me. If there’s been a proven wrongful conviction, I’d be first to say that person should be freed.

“But when there’s been a proven wrongful acquittal, such as our case, when the man confessed he had murdered our daughter, and because of an 800-year-old law, he could only be charged with perjury, that was not right.”

Determined, Ann started campaigning – she wrote letters, sought publicity with local papers and lobbied MPs. Her work saw her put in touch with Jack Straw, the then-Labour Home Secretary.

Ann also gave a speech in the House of Lords, with Lord Macpherson also recommending a change in the law following the Stephen Lawrence case.

Ann’s tireless campaigning, which spanned 13 years, in part resulted in the 2003 Criminal Justice Act.

"Sheridan showed the anxiety and the frustrations of living in a hyped up state," Ann recently told Cosmopolitan UK. "She had 11 weeks of it [during filming], try 13 years. I must have been a nightmare to live with."

The change in the law now allowed for some serious crimes (including murder, rape, and armed robbery among others) to be re-trialled, regardless of when committed, with two conditions: the retrial must be approved by the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Court of Appeal must agree to quash the original acquittal due to "new and compelling evidence".

Now 79, Ann was awarded an MBE in 2007 after her tireless, 17 year campaign. Her husband, Charlie, passed away in 2013 after suffering from Parkinson's and dementia. She now has a new partner and lives in a village outside of Stockton.

She believes that many people, particularly more senior figures, may have underestimated her.

“They probably thought: ‘Thick, northern woman. She won’t get far,’ she said.

But Ann now hopes that her daughter would have been proud for her tireless fight for justice.

"I believe that when I die, she'll be waiting for me there," she told the BBC. "I think she'll be pleased that I did what I did."

Ann also consulted on the ITV series, which draws heavily from a book Ann wrote in 2008 titled For the Love of Julie. "I can't fault it, to be quite honest," she said of the end result.

Kimberley Bond

Multiplatform Writer

Kimberley Bond is a Multiplatform Writer for Harper’s Bazaar, focusing on the arts, culture, careers and lifestyle. She previously worked as a Features Writer for Cosmopolitan UK, and has bylines at The Telegraph, The Independent and British Vogue among countless others.