Double jeopardy killer Billy Dunlop to remain in jail as open jail bid blocked | UK | News | EUROtoday

Plans to maneuver Julie Hogg’s assassin to an open jail have been halted a day after a plea by her household was ­highlighted by the Express. On Thursday, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood vetoed letting “pure evil” killer Billy Dunlop, 62, out into the neighborhood.

His sufferer’s household are “elated” he’s staying in a high-security jail. Dunlop is serving life for the 1989 killing, by which Julie was strangled and sexually abused. Jurors twice didn’t convict him, prompting him to boast of the “perfect murder” and proceed his lifetime of violent crime on Teesside, together with stabbing a pregnant ex-partner and battering her new boyfriend.

Miss Hogg’s mom Ann Ming campaigned efficiently to overturn the “double jeopardy” guidelines and he was lastly handed a life sentence in 2006.

But the Parole Board lately selected an open jail, noting a giant change in his “self-knowledge”.

Ms Mahmood has now vetoed this after an agonising anticipate the household.

Mrs Ming and her grandson Kevin, who was simply three when his mum was murdered, stated: “We are elated that the minister has truly put victims’ at the heart of the system.

“Dunlop made a mockery of the criminal justice system and this truly shows that violent offenders will be punished accordingly.”

A 2022 open-prison change was overruled by then justice secretary Sir Brandon Lewis, saying it “would undermine public confidence” and was “not essential” for rehabilitation.

Mrs Ming, whose guide on her battle is being dramatised by ITV, has advised the Express: “Dunlop is pure evil, he should never, ever be released.”

A retired detective who encountered the killer on Teesside stated the Parole Board has “never met the real Dunlop”. The Ministry of Justice was requested to remark.