Today we look at the disappearance and murder of Helen McCourt, whose case sparked a new law in the UK.
Helen McCourt was born on the 29th July 1965 in Bootle, Merseyside to William and Marie McCourt. She was a warm friendly young woman who worked as an insurance clerk and her story is one that has changed how murder investigations are done in the UK.
It was the 9th February 1988 and 22-year-old Helen called her mother Marie at around 4pm shortly before she was due to leave her workplace, she was planning on going out for the evening with her new boyfriend and wanted her dinner earlier so she could have time to wash her hair.
The weather was bad that evening and when Helen didn’t show up when she usually did Marie assumed that because of the bad weather that the buses were a bit delayed but Helen still didn’t arrive home. Her bus stop was only a short walk from her home so at this point Marie was getting worried and a search of the area showed no sign of her. Helen had apparently left the bus at approximately 5.30pm and was never seen again.
About two days before her disappearance, Helen had been involved in an argument at her local pub, the George and Dragon, according to her family and friends Helen wasn’t the sort to get into fights with random women. This fight resulted in the landlord, Ian Simms, to ban Helen from the pub and according to witnesses he had used obscene language towards her and had described how much he had hated her, Simms had also made sexual advances towards Helen which she had rejected. Apparently, Helen knew about his affair with a 21-year-old and was gossiping about it.
Helen’s walk home that night would have taken her past the pub, Marie and others think she must have seen or been called over by Simms to discuss the recent incident and to see about her being able to come to the pub again. Within minutes of Helen getting off the bus and walking home, a man getting off another bus heard a loud scream coming from the direction of the pub that was cut short.
When Helen was reported missing and a police investigation was launched Simms was interviewed and became a suspect immediately due to his extremely nervous demeanour during interviews. His car was impounded and examined by forensic scientists who found traces of Helen’s blood, it was found on the rubber sill of the boot and on the boot carpet, they also found an opal and pearl earring, which Marie had given her daughter on her 21st birthday and confirmed Helen had been wearing them the day she vanished. Traces of Helen’s blood were also found in Simms's flat, on the carpet at the foot of the stairs leading up to his flat, on a bedroom carpet, on wallpaper in the bedroom and finally on the wallpaper next to the door leading to his flat, this is where police believe the attack started. Signs of something being dragged on the carpet were also noticed and further forensics found fibres from Helen’s navy trousers were found on the stairs carpet, landing carpet and bedroom carpet proving that Simms had dragged her upstairs after attacking her. A witness described dragging noises from above at the time of the murder.
In March, Helen’s handbag, taupe coat, maroon scarf, navy trousers and green mittens were found on a riverbank in Irlam, about twenty miles away in a black bin bag which was later proved to be from the George and Dragon. Also found in the bin bag was a length of electrical flex. This was similar to the type found in Simm’s flat which he used when playing with his dogs. The flex found also had dog teeth marks in them that were matched to his dogs. There was also human hair found caught in the flex which was later identified as Helen’s by using samples obtained from her hair rollers. Police believe that the flex was used to strangle Helen.
A man came forward to say he had found on the morning of Helen’s disappearance a blood-stained towel while walking his dog along the Manchester Ship Canal in Hollins Green, Warrington. He later found another towel along with blood-stained men's clothing, the blood was later confirmed as Helen’s. The jumper had a logo for Labatt, a popular beer brand sold at the George and Dragon, Simms originally denied these being his but later confessed to belonging to him.
During his 1989 trial, Simms denied the murder of Helen, insisting that someone must have broken into his flat, stolen his clothes and then attacked and murdered Helen without him knowing. This person then stole his car and left his clothes there to incriminate him. The jury of course did not believe this far-fetched story and convicted him of murder. Simms was one of the first people to be convicted based on forensic evidence alone with no body being discovered. Of course, without Helen’s body police had to use DNA from her parents to confirm the blood was indeed Helen’s. In 1999, Simms challenged the DNA but failed as the blood not being Helen’s was a million to one. Simms was given a life sentence with a minimum of sixteen years; in a cruel twist he refuses to reveal where Helen is or admit any guilt.
Marie has devoted her life to the Support After Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM) and continues to pressure Simms into revealing where Helen is. Marie wants to bury her daughter and have a place to visit her as currently Helen has a bench in St Mary’s Church in Billinge that was installed to mark her 43rd birthday and to honour her. In October of 2013, police received a tip that Helen’s body had been placed in an open grave before it’s burial but sadly the tip was wrong.
Marie launched a campaign in December of 2015 to change the law regarding murderers who won’t disclose the location of their victims to be denied parole. In May 2019 the UK’s Ministry of Justice confirmed that Helen’s Law would be going ahead. On the 21st November 2019 it was announced before the new law could be adopted the Parole Board on the 8th November had recommended Simms for parole citing, he had met his terms for release. The bill to introduce Helen’s Law was delayed due to the 2019 General Election, after learning of her daughter's killers release Marie pleaded with the government to introduce the law and in February 2020, Helen’s family's bid to the High Court to keep Simms in jail was sadly refused and Simms was released on licence after spending 32 years in prison.
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