Directed by Erik Richter Strand, I Fought the Law is the story of a mother who just refused to bow down in front of the legal justice system after her daughter was brutally murdered by a man named William Billy Dunlop. The series is inspired by real-life events and is adapted from Ann Ming’s book, For the Love of Julie. It is a story of grit, of determination, and of sheer willpower to keep going forward even when there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. So let’s find out what happened in the 4-part series, and if Ann Ming was able to get justice for her daughter.
Spoiler Alert
What happened to Julie Hogg?
Julie Hogg worked at a pizzeria, and she lived with her boy, Kevin, in Billingham. Things were not going well between her and her husband, Matthew, and they had decided to file for a divorce. But then on 15th November, 1989, Julie left home for work, and after that, nobody heard from her. The moment she didn’t answer her landline in the morning, Ann Ming, Julie’s mother, went to her house to find out what she was up to. Her mother’s intuition told her that something was not right. Obviously, it hadn’t been even 24 hours since Julie had gone missing, and so the police were not too keen to file a missing person report. Ann was desperate, and she made sure to keep visiting the police station and made it very clear that she was not going to sit idly by until her daughter came back home. An initial inquiry was initiated, but there was a certain reluctance on the part of the local police force. It seemed as if they had already made up their mind that Julie had just left for London, probably because she wanted to start afresh after everything that had happened in her marriage. Also, Matthew became the first suspect, the most convenient route that the police could have taken. They tried to incriminate Matthew, as, according to their experience (which we later got to know amounted to nothing), it was always the husband. But Ann went and vouched for her son-in-law. She told the detectives that, whatever issues they might have in their marriage, Matthew wasn’t the kind of guy who could lay a finger on anybody.
After Ann made the life of the officer in charge miserable, he decided to bring in a forensics team just to shut her down. The so-called bunch of experts searched Julie’s house for evidence, but after five days of thorough investigation, they weren’t able to find anything. So once again, Ann, her husband Charlie, Matthew, and the entire family stood at a dead end with no way to find out what had happened to Julie. Matthew decided to move into that same house with his son, Kevin, and one day he called Ann to tell her that there was a very strong stink coming from the washroom. Nobody realized what it was until Ann came to the house the next morning and decided to check the washroom to figure out what that smell could be. She almost fell unconscious when she found a dead body hidden beneath the bathtub. Yes, it was the dead body of Julie Hogg.
Imagine the plight and the trauma of a parent who’d put their trust in the authorities, even though everyone around them warned them against it. Some 80 days after Julie’s demise, it was her mother who found her body, and not the law enforcement authorities. It was absurd that for 5 days, a bunch of experts were in the house, and they weren’t able to figure out anything. It spoke a lot about their credibility, and it was proof of their negligence, against which I felt strict action should have been taken.
What happened in the murder trial?
Mark Braithwaite, the family liaison officer appointed to Ann and her family, was probably the most reassuring and trustworthy person of the lot. He knew that Ann had every right to be mad at the police, and that it was his duty to make sure that her trust in them was reinstated. Mark promised Ann that he would do everything in his power to find Julie’s murderer, and he kept his word. A man named William “Billy” Dunlop was arrested, as Julie’s house keys were found hidden at his place, and his DNA samples were a match, the acrylic fibers found on the cloth covering the body came from his jersey, and even his semen was found on the cloth. Mark told Ann that, according to him, the evidence was enough to prove that Dunlop was guilty. A trial was started, and everyone, from the forensics experts to the pathologist who examined Julie’s dead body, gave their testimonies in court. But the defense was able to create a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury. Also, the defense stooped low, to the extent that they tried to prove in court that Julie was a promiscuous woman who indulged in a lot of affairs and immoral acts. Julie’s neighbor, Mr. Sean Fowler, told the court that he, Julie, and Dunlop had indulged in a sexual act together. There were many other fingerprints found on Julie’s house keys, and Dunlop accepted in the court of law that he had had sexual relations with Julie, but that didn’t mean that he had killed her that night.
Well, the defense wasn’t able to prove that their client was innocent, but in the British legal system, the onus of proving the guilt lies upon the prosecution and not the other way around. The jury wasn’t able to reach a verdict, and so the prosecution had no option but to opt for a retrial. Ann felt harrowed, and she didn’t know how she would prepare herself to go through the entire ordeal once again. Her husband, Charlie, started acting erratically and was displaying early signs of Parkinson’s disease. But she kept her calm and prepared herself mentally. But to her disappointment, once again the jury wasn’t able to reach a verdict, and the judge had to declare a mistrial. Two consecutive mistrials meant that William Billy Dunlop was acquitted of the murder charges, and he could roam freely on the streets. Ann couldn’t imagine how that could have happened when everything pointed towards him being the killer. Ann had the spirit of a warrior, and she decided not to stop till she got justice for her daughter. Everybody thought that she was a fool to waste her time on something that she had no control over. But the mother knew that either she would die trying or the system would have to bow down before her.
Was Ann able to get the double jeopardy law amended?
From the Home Secretary to British judge and barrister Alan Wilkie, Ann tried meeting everyone to figure out what could be done in her case. Meanwhile, imagine the audacity of Mr. Dunlop, who went around Billingham boasting about how he’d murdered Julie and gotten away with it. He felt proud of the fact that the prosecutors weren’t able to prove anything, and Ann was deeply distressed when she got to know about it. Also, she feared that this maniac would hurt somebody again, which was why she wanted him behind bars. Dunlop felt invincible after the verdict went in his favor. He committed the blunder of assaulting somebody once again, and this time around, there was proper evidence to charge him with attempted double murder. But unfortunately, Dunlop only got a 7-year sentence, and Ann wanted to do everything to keep him behind bars as long as she could. With Mark’s constant efforts, he was able to get a confession from William Dunlop, where he stated that he had lied in court and he was the one who had murdered Julie. But generally, in the legal system, once you have been acquitted by the apex authority, you cannot be charged for the same crime again. The law of double jeopardy was one of those ancient regulations put in place by the lawmakers of the country. Ann wanted to find a way to get it amended and, moreover, make it retrospective in nature. She knew that the cases and incidents predating the amendment didn’t fall under its ambit. So Dunlop was tried for perjury, and the court upped his sentence by 7 years. Ann had expected that he would be sentenced for life, but once again the legal machinery let her down. Ann later got to know that her victim impact statement wasn’t read out to the judge before he passed the order, and surely had that happened, it would have made a huge impact.
So Ann still kept fighting, and as an observer, it’s difficult to understand how she could muster all that courage. How she could still keep on moving forward with the same vigor. Charlie, her husband, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease around the early 2000s, gave up hope that his daughter would ever get justice. But the odds turned in their favor, the mighty bowed down, and it was decided that a bill to quash the double jeopardy rule would be introduced in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. I believe that it was Ann’s stirring speech that she gave at the House of Lords, which led to both houses passing that bill. Ann spoke from the heart; she made the Lords understand what it felt like to attend the funeral of one’s own daughter, and the things the victim’s family go through when they don’t get the justice she deserved. The esteemed personalities present in that room were left teary-eyed, and the efforts of a grieving mother paid off. Ann’s campaign to abolish the double jeopardy rule was a success, which meant that in a case where new evidence emerged against a person who had been acquitted for the same crime, they could be tried again.
What Happened To William Billy Dunlop?
In I Fought the Law’s ending, Dunlop’s case was reopened, and a trial was initiated in the year 2006, almost 16 years after Julie Hogg’s murder. William Billy Dunlop became the first man to be found guilty and charged by the court of law after being acquitted for the same crime in the past. The judge finally read out an extract from Ann’s victim impact statement, which she made sure reached the judge at all costs in time. The judge sentenced Dunlop to 17 years in prison. Justice was finally served, but had it not been for Ann’s resilience, I don’t think that such a groundbreaking bill would have ever become a law in the country.
Charlie, Ann’s husband, passed away in the year 2013, whereas Ann (according to I Fought the Law) now lives in the northeastern part of the country and often assists law enforcement authorities in dealing with victims of violent crimes. As for Dunlop, he made an appeal to the parole board to shorten his sentence and release him. He told the court how guilty he felt that he took the life of an innocent woman. He said that his ego was bruised when Julie didn’t give in to his demands to get sexually involved with him that one time. The parole board did suggest that Dunlop could be shifted to an open prison, as they felt that they could give him some leeway if not totally release him. But as per reports, the Justice Secretary and a few others didn’t want to show any kind of sympathy towards him. As of now, William Billy Dunlop is still behind bars; I believe it’s for the best, because after what the man had done, he does not deserve to roam free on the streets.
