The son of a pizza delivery woman murdered in 1989 has warned her killer is “hoodwinking” the Parole Board as a panel considers his bid for freedom.
William Dunlop, now 63, strangled Julie Hogg in Billingham, County Durham, in 1989 and hid her mutilated body behind a bath panel which was discovered by her mother more than two months later.
The murder of the 22-year-old was “accompanied by the brutal sexual degradation of (her) body”, the Old Bailey judge said at Dunlop’s sentencing, which came in 2006 after Miss Hogg’s family campaigned for a change in the 800-year-old double jeopardy law.
On Wednesday, in his fourth case review, Dunlop claimed the recent death of his son meant he is now able to “empathise” with his victim’s family and that “I totally get it now”.
The following day, Miss Hogg’s mother, Ann Ming, 80, told the Press Association that she “wanted to scream” hearing the comment and “I don’t know how we kept it together”.
Sitting next to her was Miss Hogg’s son, Kevin, who said the family believes the “vicious, violent offender” should never be released.
“As a family we don’t believe he should, but we have to accept he will,” he added.
Mr Hogg criticised Dunlop’s emphasis on his bereavement, claiming it was “scripted”.
The 40-year-old told the Press Association: “He wasn’t empathetic last year, 18 months ago, two years ago, but now he is.
“‘Ah, that’s because I lost my son’ – 10 year ago you lost your father, were you empathetic then? Oh, no.”
He later added: “He’s comparing his grief to my nan’s grief of losing her child – it’s incomparable.”
During evidence, Dunlop recounted having “euphoric feelings” for about 30 seconds after the killing before he started to panic about getting caught.
Mr Hogg said: “Who on earth who is asking for release would come out with and turn around and say, ‘I felt euphoric after I killed her’.
“Bloody hell, like come on. ‘I felt euphoric’, and then he went ‘well only for about 30 seconds’ – well, hang on, if it was only for 30 seconds, why did you do the stuff after that?”
The killer was also asked if he had intended to take Miss Hogg’s life, to which Dunlop said he had done because “you cannot strangle somebody and think you’re not going to do that”.
Mr Hogg called his response “blasé” and like he was “laughing at us”.
“You know what? You laugh all you want because as long as it’s undermining public confidence, I’ll just keep using it, and we’ll see who’s laughing”, he added.
The hearing concluded on Thursday and a provisional decision is due to be published within 14 days.
Mr Hogg said: “He is hoodwinking the system because he knows that he’s kept his head down, he’s had no adjudications, he’s had no altercations, he was super proud of being able to walk away from altercations – these are yet to be presented as evidence.”
He also pointed out that Dunlop “manipulated the system for 20 years where he wasn’t convicted”.
Mr Hogg later added: “He might have hoodwinked you, might have hoodwinked the three people there (on the panel), but he won’t us.”
The weeks waiting for a result will be spent compiling their own evidence to bring to Justice Secretary Alex Norris, he and his grandmother agreed.
Mrs Ming will spend one of the weekends line dancing, which has become a lifeline since she first picked it up in the wake of Dunlop’s acquittal.
“I was in such a state mentally really… it gave me sort of like something to focus on – I like the music, I learned the steps, you have to concentrate… a couple of hours out the day”, she told PA.
Meanwhile Mr Hogg said: “I give him very minimum headspace because if he consumes too much of my headspace, in my mind I feel as though he’s won, and he’s not going to beat me.
“He says the public shouldn’t be scared of him, he’s more scared of the public – he should be.”
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