Sheridan Smith’s crime drama I Fought The Law has a lot of people talking, but is it based on a true story? Find out below.
The four-episode series is streaming on ITVX in the UK now and it stars Smith as Ann Mings, a mother from County Durham who fights for 15 years to put the killer of her daughter behind bars, and overturn the double jeopardy law.
The show comes from director Erik Richter Strand and stars Smith, known for Cilla, Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps, The C Word and Gavin & Stacey, in the lead role.
Watch the trailer for I Fought The Law here:
Is I Fought The Law based on a true story?
Yes, I Fought The Law is based on the real-life Ann Ming’s long campaign to overturn the 800-year-old British double jeopardy law following the murder of her daughter.
Adapted directly from Ming’s memoir For The Love Of Julie and produced with Ming’s input, it sticks closely to the truth of the case.
In November 1989, Ann reported her daughter Julie missing after she missed a court hearing related to her separation from her estranged husband Andrew. Police responded slowly, believing it possible that Julie had abandoned her son Kevin and moved to London. They did not find any evidence of wrongdoing and the case went cold.
Ann and Andrew returned to the family home 80 days later and found Julie’s naked body wrapped in a blanket, with a post-mortem concluding that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
Police charged William Dunlop, a builder’s labourer who had visited a friend next door to Julie on the night of her disappearance and had also assaulted a man at a rugby club hours earlier.
The prosecution argued Dunlop had committed a “premeditated and truly horrendous” attack on Julie, with her house keys later found under his floorboards. However, a jury failed to reach a majority verdict in 1991 and a second jury also acquitted him later in the same year.
Dunlop was later convicted of stabbing his pregnant girlfriend with a toaster fork in 1997 and during a seven-year jail term, he confessed to a prison officer that he had murdered Julie. He believed he was protected by double jeopardy, which prevented anyone from being tried for the same offence twice.
Ann took it upon herself to use damages from the case to campaign tirelessly for the law to be changed, including an impassioned speech in the House Of Lords and a meeting with Home Secretary Jack Straw.
Her work culminated in the 2003 Criminal Justice Act, which allowed for retrials for serious offences if new and compelling evidence surfaced. Julie’s case was reopened and in 2006, Dunlop was retried and convicted of the murder. He received a life sentence of a minimum of 17 years, becoming the first person to be convicted under the reformed double jeopardy law. He was denied the opportunity to move to an open prison earlier this year.
