William Dunlop, known as Billy, has told a parole board that the sudden death of his son has completely changed his outlook on life as he makes his first application for release. The 63-year-old has spent more than two decades behind bars for the murder of Julie Hogg in 1989.
Dunlop strangled the 22-year-old mother to death and hid her mutilated body behind the bath panel in her own home in Billingham. Miss Hogg's mother, Ann Ming, made the discovery almost three months after first reporting her daughter missing.
The killer had subjected Miss Hogg to a violent sexual assault after she rejected him, in what prosecutors called a "premeditated and truly horrendous" attack.
Parole hearing and victim impact
Since September 2021, when Dunlop's 17-year minimum tariff expired, the killer has faced three previous parole hearings. On Wednesday, October 21, he made his first application for release, after previously making submissions for moves to open conditions. The Parole Board has recommended his transfer to open prison multiple times, but three justice secretaries have intervened, the panel heard.
Dunlop, the first murderer to be jailed after an amendment to the 800-year-old double jeopardy law, said he would have killed or committed serious violence again during his fourth parole board hearing.
Having requested to read his victim impact statement in public, Miss Hogg's son Kevin spoke of how much he has lost as a consequence of Dunlop's "evil crimes". He said: "I can state categorically that time isn't the great healer it is reputed to be. As the years pass, the pain of losing my mother to this murderer remains acute.
"I have lost much to this crime and his evil actions. I have lost the ability to experience joy. I have lost the ability to maintain lasting relationships.
"The anguish he has caused, simply cannot be measured nor indeed put down on paper. He persecuted us for many years from his prison cell and continues to do so whilst the [Criminal Justice System] allows this to happen."
He spoke about his dreams and flashbacks to when he was a child hearing the "screaming and shouting in the home along with the pungent smell of my decomposing mother" as his grandmother made the devastating discovery.
Citing the previous refusals by the parole board's recommendation, Mr Hogg said: "This is what is meant by the loved ones of the victims of murder and manslaughter when they say, 'It is us that have been given the life sentence.'"
He described the devastation wrought on himself and family members including health and relationship issues, and "joy or even just cheeriness" falling in "short supply".
Dunlop's response and remorse
The parole hearing, held in an undisclosed prison, was streamed to a room in London filled with Miss Hogg's loved ones and members of the media. Dunlop appeared on video link with his back to the camera, wearing a light blue shirt.
When asked about his response to Mr Hogg's statement, Dunlop said: "I found it very moving. I'm trying to explain it. With my significant bereavement that I have had [which he later confirmed to be the death of his son] I can empathise with him and the rest of the family.
"I get it now. I totally get about loss. I was struggling when [Mr Hogg] was talking about it, what it was bring back to me, what has happened now. The horrendous thing I did to his mother and [Mrs Ming's] daughter is fused with my bereavement. If I think about [Miss Hogg] I think about my significant loss and if I think about my significant other I think about [Miss Hogg]."
Dunlop said this will be the "most difficult parole hearing" he has been in. He added: "I can't understand (Mrs Ming) finding her daughter, that I struggle with, but I relate to the loss now, the not knowing - I get that, I really do."
The killer described getting "snippets of information" about his son's death while in prison. While giving his evidence, he went on to say: "This significant event in my life has changed my whole outlook on life."
The killer says that he believes now that: "If I can get through that, if I can overcome what has happened to me in the last year I can face anything."
Fight for justice
Dunlop was tried twice for the murder but both juries failed to reach a verdict. Years later, while in jail for another crime, he confessed and admitted lying in court, boasting there was nothing anyone could do about it because of the double jeopardy rule in place at the time.
For 15 years, Miss Hogg's family, including her mother, campaigned to get the law changed so he could be charged with the same crime twice, and in 2006 he became the first person to be brought back to court under the new rules. He pleaded guilty to murder and was jailed for life.
Panel member Zaiada Bibi asked him if he regrets the confession and he responded: "No, no, without a doubt, no. I think I said this at the last parole that I thanked Mrs Ming for doing it because I've not hurt anybody else - by me being in prison all this time I've not hurt anybody."
Asked if he believes he would have gone on to commit another murder or serious violence, he said: "I would say yes because that's what my life was." Dunlop said he started using violence from the age of seven or eight because he was "taught that's how you got respect", and that remained his "identity" until 10 years ago.
When asked if he intended to take Miss Hogg's life, Dunlop answered yes. He said: "I have to say yes because you can't grab somebody round the throat and squeeze and not expect for that to happen when you're in a rage."
The killing was motivated by his "entitlement and also the rejection, because I've never handled rejection very well at all", he said. Asked what he thought he was entitled to, Dunlop said: "Respect. 'You should respect me' was one of my unwritten rules."
Following the murder, he said "euphoric feelings" hit him for up to 30 seconds because of the "power it gave" because he had always felt insecure. But he said panic quickly set in and he thought: "I can't get caught for this."
He said he sat in the chair across from Miss Hogg for what could have been five minutes or half an hour before moving the body. The panel asked if he thought about the impact of his crimes on the family prior to the parole hearing.
Dunlop, who now works as a painter and decorator in prison, replied: "I did think about them and the effect it would have on them, however it was all about me and I just suppressed what I felt.
"I just pushed it to one side and I had seen them on the telly, Ann and Kevin, when she was missing and I either turned it over or turned the volume off because I couldn't - it was all about me, it wasn't about them, it was survival."
Risk assessment and recommendations
Describing his personality at the time of the attack, he said: "I was just a selfish individual who just thought about myself, who didn't a lot of the time think about others - it was all about my needs, it was all about what I needed."
He said thinking about the man who he was 30 years ago makes him "cringe" because of "how selfish and self-centered I was".
On whether he considers himself a risk to the public, he said: "No, I'm more frightened of them than they should be of me - I'm more concerned about people finding out where I am and causing me harm... I don't want to cause anybody any harm."
Dunlop's Prison Offender Manager as well as psychologists, both independent and for the prison, all recommended Dunlop be released. The prisoner offender manager said that in addition to the loss of his son, Dunlop has also had to deal with the push back from the secretary of state after his last parole hearing and the TV show within close proximity.
The drama series, I Fought the Law, aired on ITV last year, looking at Miss Hogg's murder and Mrs Ming's fight for justice. The parole hearing continues.
