Those who’ve watched the compelling ITV drama, I Fought the Law, starring Sheridan Smith as Ann Ming, or the accompanying documentary (I Fought the Law: The Ann Ming Story), will be familiar with the devastating murder of 22-year-old Julie Hogg at the hands of William Dunlop in November 1989.
Sadly, due to police incompetencies during the early stages of the investigation, Hogg’s body wasn’t found until three months after her death; it was eventually discovered behind a bath panel in her own home, by her mother, Ann Ming, who had been frantically appealing for her safe return.
That day was the start of a very long road to justice for Ming, who went on to change the archaic ‘double jeopardy’ law in England and Wales that meant Dunlop, despite later confessing to killing Hogg, was unable to be prosecuted for her murder.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan UK, Ming explains the one thing many people have commented on after learning about her story was “the length of time it took to change the law and the [way that period of my life is] portrayed. Sheridan showed the anxiety and the frustrations of living in a hyped up state. She had 11 weeks of it [during filming], try 13 years. I must have been a nightmare to live with.”
Despite evidence showing Dunlop’s shirt fibres and semen on the blanket that Hogg was found wrapped in, and that Hogg’s keys were retrieved from under the floorboards of Dunlop’s home (complete with his fingerprints on), sadly two sets of jurors couldn’t reach a verdict when the case first went to court.
Because of this, Dunlop walked free following the first two trials in relation to Hogg’s murder – and then began bragging in pubs around his and Ming’s shared town of Billingham, County Durham, about having ‘gotten away with murder’. Due to the archaic double jeopardy law, which prohibited a retrial after an acquittal, he could not be prosecuted for the murder again.
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For Hogg’s mother, Ann Ming, this was the spark that lit a fuse. As detailed in the two new ITV programmes, she then launched a 13-year-long battle to have the rule overturned, in the hopes that Dunlop could at last be brought to justice for killing her daughter.
Later, five years into Ming calling on politicians and the press for help, in 1999, while serving a prison sentence for other unrelated violent offences, Dunlop also confessed to a prison officer that he had murdered Julie Hogg.
After said prison officer wore a wire to capture new evidence, Dunlop was charged with two counts of perjury (lying under oath), to which he pleaded guilty, resulting in a 6-year prison sentence in April 2000.
Although it was far from easy and at times it took a toll on family life with her supportive husband, Charlie – who Ming says processed his grief differently – and grandson (Julie’s son), Kevin, Ming still had an unrelenting fire in her belly. “It wasn’t straightforward, I had quite a few times where I felt really down, I wasn’t always strong,” she tells Cosmopolitan UK. “But I felt so passionate about the law needing to be changed and that’s what kept me going.”
Meeting others in the same boat spurred her on too: “When you’ve met other families that have had acquittals [...] I thought ‘I’ve got the biggest mouth, so I’ll speak for us all’.”
Her advice for others hoping to fight for justice and campaign for any type of legal change is to break down what can feel like a mammoth task, and do it step by step. “If people have got something focused in their mind they want to change, I went step by step. I never went into a newspaper and called [out] the government or criticised them, I never did any of that, I went to my MP [the late Frank Cook]. The next step was the Home Secretary, then the Law Commission, then the House of Lords. I did it the right way around.”
Entering into the entirely unknown world of lawmakers and politics was daunting, but Ming, who at the time worked as a nurse, was determined. “To get the opportunity to go to the House of Lords and address them, when I was just an ordinary working person, it was a big thing, getting the opportunity to do it.”
Finally, after a 13-year push, the law was overturned and much to Ming’s relief, it could be applied retrospectively – meaning that in 2005, via the Court of Appeal, Dunlop was back on the stand for Hogg’s murder. This time around, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison (with a minimum term of 17 years).
As of this year, Dunlop’s attempts to be moved into an open prison, with lower security and more freedoms, have failed.
For Ming, there’s a sense of pride in being able to provide a lasting legacy for her daughter, whose case has drawn widespread media attention for over 30 years now. “I'm glad I stuck it out. There’s some legacy to Julie now, the double jeopardy law change. If she were still here she’d say ‘Well done, our mam’.”
Now Ming is hopeful that other countries will follow suit, offering more families who have lost loved ones a form of much-deserved closure. “Why don't these world leaders all follow British law? The safeguards that have been built into it are so stringent, and any family that has had an acquittal [knows]… you live in a state of limbo for the rest of your life. But at least if you get the conviction, you do have some form of closure.”
I Fought the Law and I Fought the Law: The Ann Ming Story are both available on ITVX
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
