Killers who refuse to reveal where they hid victim’s body could still be freed despite new Helen’s Law

Helen McCourt was murdered by Ian Simms in 1988
PA
April Roach @aprilroach2823 December 2020
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Killers who refuse to reveal where they hid the body of their victim could still be freed despite the introduction of Helen’s Law which is aimed at denying them parole.

Helen’s Law, which is officially called the Prisoners (Disclosure of Information about Victims) Bill, will not bar the release of killers from jail if they do not reveal where they hid their victim’s body.

However the bill, which gained royal assent last month and is due to come into force next year, will make it a legal requirement for the Parole Board to consider this factor when deciding if a criminal is safe to be released.

Helen’s Law is named after insurance clerk Miss McCourt who disappeared on her way home from work in 1988.

Ian Simms was serving a life sentence for the abduction and murder of the 22-year-old.

He was released earlier this year despite never revealing where he hid Miss McCourt’s body.

Miss McCourt’s mother, Marie McCourt, said she hopes the law will toughen up the current rules.

Helen McCourt's body has never been found
PA

“I wish the law could have gone further, definitely,” Mrs McCourt, 77, from St Helens, Merseyside, told the PA news agency.

“It’s upsetting to hear the law may not have helped our case.

“Simms has a violent history. How can they say a man like that – who also won’t reveal information – is safe to be released?

“But they have to make sure Helen’s Law makes it harder and makes it far more difficult than it has been.”

Parole Board chief executive Martin Jones said it was a “really difficult area”.

He added: “It's described as 'no body, no parole' - that's not what this legislation does, at all.

The Parole Board rejected the appeal to keep Helen McCourt's murderer Ian Simms behind bars
PA

"It requires the Parole Board to take it into account before we make a decision, but it's very clear that ultimately the Parole Board has to apply the public protection test in relation to whether that person remains a risk to the public."

Mrs McCourt’s MP, Conor McGinn accused Mr Jones of being “insensitive”.

The Labour MP for St Helens North said on Twitter: “The timing of these remarks by the head of the Parole Board, just days before Christmas, is hugely insensitive to victims & has deeply upset Marie McCourt & many families.”

Mrs McCourt said hiding a body causes “awful” trauma for families who are left “suffering for the rest of their lives”.

She added: “All I want and anyone in the same situation as me wants is to be able to have our loved ones back, out of the killer’s clutches, so we can lay their remains to rest.”

Her comments came after earlier this year the grandson of a murderer who refused to reveal where he hid his wife’s body 35 years ago complained that the Bill was not “worth the paper it’s written on”.

Neil Gillingham, the grandson of Russell Causley who was jailed for life for killing Carole Packman a year after he moved his lover into their home in Bournemouth, previously described a Parole Board ruling to release Causley from prison as “contemptible” and “morally wrong”.

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