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Helen McCourt's mother begins proceedings to prevent killer's release

Marie McCourt lodges papers requesting judicial review into release of Ian Simms

The mother of a 22-year-old woman who was murdered as she walked home from work has begun legal proceedings to prevent the release of her killer.

Ian Simms was convicted of killing the insurance clerk Helen McCourt, who disappeared in Merseyside in 1988.

Simms, 63, is due to be released by the Parole Board after an appeal by Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, was rejected. He has served more than twice the minimum term specified by the judge who passed his life sentence because he has never admitted his guilt or revealed where he hid his victim’s remains.

Marie McCourt has lodged papers requesting a judicial review at the high court. The Parole Board has confirmed the case is under review.

Legislation, named “Helen’s law”, was designed to require the Parole Board to consider any refusal to provide information about remains when deciding about release. The bill made its way through the early stages of ratification before parliament was dissolved for the 2019 general election. It has since been reintroduced in parliament.

The Parole Board said Simms had “met the test for release” because of factors including a “considerable change in his behaviour”. He is due to be freed from HMP Garth in Leyland, Lancashire.

The former pub landlord was in 1989 given a life sentence with a minimum of at least 16 years, after being one of the first people to be convicted on DNA evidence without the victim’s body having been discovered.

McCourt vanished shortly after alighting from a bus home near her home in Billinge. Simms’s pub, the George and Dragon, near Wigan, was close to McCourt’s home and he quickly became a suspect. He was found guilty of McCourt’s abduction and murder after her earring was found in his car boot.

Marie McCourt has crowdfunded more than £26,000 to pay for the legal costs of the court action to overturn the decision. After the Parole Board decision was announced last November, she told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme: “He’s tortured us all these years, so why should he be allowed out to torture us even more?”

Upon his release, Simms will be subject to conditions including wearing a tagging device to monitor his whereabouts. He will also be required to live at a designated address, observe a curfew, and avoid making contact with his victim’s family.