Crime+Investigation is giving away 5 copies of Justice For Helen, an incredible story of grief, loss and love, determination and strength, fortitude and resilience as one mother sets out to put right an appalling wrong.
To take part in the competition enter via the submission form below:
On 9 February 1988, 22-year-old Helen McCourt left her office in Liverpool city centre and began her usual commute home. She was never seen again. Within days, local pub landlord, Ian Simms, had been arrested and charged with her murder. Despite Helen’s body not being found, a mass of incontrovertible DNA and witness evidence at his trial 12 months later resulted in a life sentence. To this day, he has never revealed the body’s whereabouts.
Justice for Helen by Marie McCourt tells the story of a grieving mother’s battle to find her daughter’s body and prevent any other family from suffering the same torture. Co-written with journalist Fiona Duffy who has worked with Marie for more than two decades, the book was published just days before the 33rd anniversary of Helen’s murder which is on 9 February.
Overnight, Marie went from an ordinary, introverted, working mum to a determined searcher and tenacious campaigner for victims of homicide. Backed by three-quarters of a million signatories she took her fight for a change in legislation to Downing Street and Parliament – overcoming countless setbacks and crushing disappointments along the way. The result? Helen’s Law – ground-breaking, award-winning, legislation that recognises the distress caused to families of missing murder victims. The law entered the statute book at the beginning of 2021, just weeks prior to publication of the book. Marie’s astonishing achievement has had global implications with similar campaigns underway in Scotland, Ireland and Canada. Now enshrined in law, it will have implications for centuries to come.
