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- Helen McCourt (29 July 1965 – c. 9 February 1988) was a 22-year-old British insurance clerk from Lancashire (now Merseyside), England, who disappeared on 9 February 1988 in the village of Billinge, Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, shortly after getting off a bus less than five hundred yards from her home. Her body has never been found. Ian Simms, a local pub landlord, was charged with and convicted of her murder. The case is a rare example where a murder conviction has been obtained without the presence of a body, and was one of the first in the UK to use DNA fingerprinting. In 2015, Helen McCourt's mother, Marie, began a campaign to change the law regarding the conviction of killers such as Simms, requiring them to reveal the whereabouts of their victim's remains before being considered for parole. The campaign led to the announcement of plans to introduce a "Helen's Law" in May 2019. On 5 July 2019, David Gauke, the Secretary of State for Justice confirmed the law would be adopted in England and Wales. A Parole Board hearing on 8 November recommended Simms for release, the decision coming before the legislation could be introduced. The McCourt family launched a bid to keep Simms in jail but it was rejected by the High Court in February 2020, and Simms was subsequently released on licence. He died on 24 June 2022 without revealing the location of Helen's body. (en)
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- Helen McCourt (29 July 1965 – c. 9 February 1988) was a 22-year-old British insurance clerk from Lancashire (now Merseyside), England, who disappeared on 9 February 1988 in the village of Billinge, Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, shortly after getting off a bus less than five hundred yards from her home. Her body has never been found. Ian Simms, a local pub landlord, was charged with and convicted of her murder. (en)
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