BBCThe mother of a murdered woman, who found her daughter’s body hidden beneath a bath, “cried all the way through” a television drama documenting her 17-year fight for justice.
Julie Hogg was 22 when she was strangled at her home in Billingham, County Durham, by domestic abuser William ‘Billy’ Dunlop in 1989, but two juries failed to reach a verdict on his guilt.
Despite later boasting about killing her he appeared to have got away with murder, protected by the double jeopardy law which prevented someone being re-prosecuted for a crime they had been acquitted of.
But he would be no match for Ann Ming.
Ms Hogg’s mother fought ferociously to change the law so the most serious of offenders could be tried again if new evidence, or an admission, came to light.
That long, determined and emotional battle has now been revisited in ITV’s four-part series I Fought the Law, starring Sheridan Smith.
Family handout“There were cries all the way through it,” a still-tearful but composed Ms Ming explained to the BBC after the drama of her fight had been filmed.
“All I was doing was reliving it all and I knew what it felt like inside.
“Sheridan portrayed me as though she was inside me.”
Scenes depict Ms Ming’s desperate wait by the phone, longing for it to ring with news her daughter been found.
Her eventual discovery of her daughter’s body underneath a bath is also shown – all the elements vital, Ms Ming believes, to demonstrate the family’s unrelenting pain and debilitating journey.
‘I was just in awe’
Smith, famed for her roles in programmes including Cilla, Benidorm and Gavin & Stacey, knew what an “honour” it would be to be cast as Ms Ming.
Sitting next to and locking hands with the person she portrays on screen, she explained: “When I got the script I went online and thought ‘how do I not know this story?’.”
Immediately she began researching, finding detail in every online article, every news item and Ms Ming’s book For the Love of Julie.
“I was emotionally attached as soon as I knew Ann’s story,” Smith said, while admitting to feeling “starstruck” in the company of such a determined character.
“The fight for justice, fighting and fighting to change this 800-year-old law to pave the way for other families, is just such an inspiration, so I was just in awe of her.”
Cleveland PoliceThe drama zeroes in on Dunlop. Although he was initially charged with Ms Hogg’s murder in 1990, two juries under one prosecution failed to reach a verdict and he was cleared of murder.
It was while serving a sentence for another violent crime that he boasted to a prison officer that he had killed Ms Hogg.
He thought the double jeopardy law would protect him, but following Ms Ming’s campaign it was amended in 2005.
Dunlop was sentenced under the reformed law a year later.
“A lot of people did think I had a team of lawyers doing it on my behalf and this wasn’t the case, and [the drama] shows that,” emphasised Ms Ming.
Since then Ms Ming has appeared in documentaries about her daughter’s murder, but this is the first time a television drama has immortalised her fight.
“When ITV approached me about the drama and they suggested Sheridan Smith, I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I have watched everything she’s done.”
For Ms Ming, it is vital the story reaches new audiences across the country, showing some injustices can, in fact, be righted.
Glassy-eyed Smith hugged Ms Ming and acknowledged “she’s been with me every step of the way”, both on set and in her mind.
She said: “I just wanted to try and feel just even ‘that much’ of what you went through… to get your story out there and do you justice like you did for Julie and for so many other families.”
Tearful, yet visibly proud, Ms Ming replied: “She’s done it, hasn’t she? She’s definitely done it.”
As for the daughter she searched and fought for, Ms Ming said: “I believe that when I die, she’ll be waiting for me there.
“I think she’ll be pleased that I did what I did.”
The series will air on 31 August.
