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WHEN a killer is caught, police usually have the body of a victim to help prove their case.
But sometimes the culprits refuse to reveal what they have done with the people they have brutally murdered, even after they have been convicted of the crime. It leaves families of the victims suffering even greater heartache.
Now the mother of murdered 22-year-old Helen McCourt, one of those still missing, is campaigning for a new law to tackle the problem. Dubbed Helen’s Law, it would prevent convicted murderers who refuse to reveal the location of bodies of victims from being released on parole.
Marie McCourt already has nearly half a million signatures on her petition. And in a new TV documentary, When Missing Turns To Murder, Marie explains: “I can never come to terms with the fact that I will never be able to give her a funeral.”
The Crime+Investigation channel programme reveals insurance clerk Helen disappeared on February 9, 1988 after getting off a bus in Billinge, Merseyside, on her way home from work. Police later arrested pub landlord Ian Simms. Helen’s blood and one of her earrings were found in the 31-year-old’s car and traces of her blood were also found in his flat.
Later, Helen’s clothes were found 20 miles away in a bin liner that came from Simms’s pub, while fibres from them were found in his home too.ÊClothes belonging to the married father-of-two were also found to be covered in Helen’s blo DNA evidence wa enough to convict Simms at his trial in 1 despite the lack of a c
He was given a life sentence, but is now i an open prison and ha never revealed Helen’s whereabouts. Despite extensive searches by and family, she has ne been found.
Here looks at other cas where killers have bee convicted, but the loca of their tragic victims remains a mystery…