ITV drama I Fought The Law tells Ann Ming's double jeopardy fight

ITV’s new four part drama I Fought The Law premiered on August 31, retelling the true story of Ann Ming and her long campaign to change Britain’s double jeopardy rule after the 1989 murder of her daughter Julie Hogg. Sheridan Smith stars as Ming in a series that traces Julie’s disappearance in Billingham, County Durham, the initial police response, and her mother’s decadeslong fight that ultimately led to a retrial and conviction of the killer.

Julie Hogg, 22, vanished in November 1989, leaving behind a three year old son. Her body was discovered by her mother hidden behind the bath panel in January 1990. William Billy Dunlop was tried twice in 1991 but juries failed to reach verdicts and he was formally acquitted. While serving a prison sentence for unrelated violent offences in 1999, Dunlop confessed to a prison officer that he had killed Julie. Under the then centuries old double jeopardy rule a person could not be tried twice for the same crime, meaning Dunlop could not immediately be retried for murder.

Ann Ming refused to accept that outcome. Accounts of the length of her campaign vary, with the struggle described in coverage as lasting between 15 and 17 years. Ming...