Billy Dunlop admits there could have been other murder victims had he not been jailed

Billy Dunlop has agreed he could have murdered other people had he not been locked up.

Julie Hogg's killer said he believed if he had been released from prison in 2002, while serving a sentence for another crime, there would have been more victims of his violent offending. When asked by the panel if he meant more murder victims, he agreed it was possible.

"It wouldn't have happened straightaway," he said. "I would have held it together for a bit," he said.

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Billy Dunlop was caged 18 years ago for killing the young Billingham mum in 1989. A Parole Board panel has heard evidence on whether the 61-year-old is now safe to be moved to a lower security jail.

The application for him to be released on licence was withdrawn on Tuesday. The hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, attended by Teesside Live, has heard brutal details of Julie's murder, along with other horrific acts of violence on ex-partners.

This included a frenzied attack with a pick axe on a former girlfriend after she went on a night out and returned wearing a different top. The panel chair, who is not being named in the proceedings, asked: "Do you accept she was beaten until her face was practically unrecognisable?" Dunlop agreed.

He went on to say: "When things didn't go my way... I never dealt with life's problems and violence was the way I knew best." He said in 2002, his "world was caving in" and "I didn't have the control I thought I needed".

In another attack, he stabbed an ex-partner and beat her lover with a baseball bat. He used such force, the baseball bat broke.

When asked if that man could also have been a murder victim, he said: "If you look at it in the cold light of day, he could have been. If you look at it like that."

Dunlop said he confessed to killing Julie in March 1999 because he knew he needed help". He admitted this reason was "a selfish thing".

However, he would not be convicted of the murder of the 22-year-old until 2006. Julie went missing in Billingham on November 16, 1989.

Despite police searching her home, it was her mum Ann Ming who found her daughter's body behind a bath panel ten weeks later. Dunlop was charged with murder but two juries failed to reach a verdict on the case.

And despite admitting he had committed the crime ten years later, Dunlop knew and bragged about the safety net of the double jeopardy law. It meant he couldn't be tried twice for the same crime.

He told the hearing he had been given advice by a solicitor to "stop talking, to shut my mouth". He added: "But I made the choice to carry on talking."

He said he realised he could not be tried again for the crime under the double jeopardy law but said he felt confessing would "free me up and let me move on and get help for the violence towards others".

Professionals working with the killer have recommended Dunlop is moved to an open prison. He was described as a "model prisoner" by his key worker and his prison offender manager said she believes he has shown "empathy and understanding of the impact of his behaviour."

Dunlop told the hearing he had put his "heart and soul" into his rehabilitation, but admitted he still has "mad thoughts". He said "normal people" also have them, adding: "As long as you don't act on them."

Dunlop became emotional when asked how he feels when he reflects on the person "he used to be". He said: "I was a horrible, selfish piece of... I'm trying not to swear.

"I was a horrible individual who never thought about anybody but himself, although I did think about my children at times, but a lot of the time it was about me."

He told the hearing he thinks about Julie's murder "most days" but repeated that he can't turn back the clock. "I wish I didn't create all those victims, but I did," he added.

The hearing has been told Dunlop has committed no acts of violence in prison since 2010. When asked why he thinks he's now ready for open prison conditions, Dunlop said he believes he has the skills to deal with the challenges.

"I know if I did anything else, I would die in prison," he said. The hearing continues on Tuesday afternoon however the decision will be made at a later date.

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