The double jeopardy law had been in existence in the UK for over 800 years, but the campaign to have it removed was put forwards following several high-profile cases, such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and Julie Hogg in 1989. Hogg's murderer, William Dunlop, confessed to Hogg's murder in 1999 but was only able to be tried for perjury as he had already been acquitted of her murder. Similarly, following the McPherson report into the handling of the Stephen Lawrence case, it was found that the investigation into Lawrence’s murder was seriously flawed and the report recommended that the double jeopardy rule be scrapped to allow for prosecution of the five suspects in the case - three of whom had been acquitted in a private prosecution.

The law was changed in 2005 and in 2012 Gary Dobson and David Norris (charges on Norris were dropped in the private prosecution) were the first of the suspects to be found guilty of Lawrence's murder. The double jeopardy rule was partially removed to address the issue of new evidence coming to light in cases such as the Stephen Lawrence murder, in part due to the increased effectiveness of forensic evidence, such as DNA sampling.