Hundreds of thousands have backed the Mirror\u2019s calls for an urgent change in the law led by Marie McCourt, who has been searching for daughter Helen\u2019s remains for nearly three decades.<\/p>\n
Pub landlord Ian Simms was convicted of killing the 22-year-old in 1988 but has refused to reveal the location of her corpse.<\/p>\n
Marie, 73, wants the Government to introduce \u201cHelen\u2019s Law\u201d so that life means life for murderers<\/a> like him who hide victims\u2019 bodies.<\/p>\n Marie of Billinge, Wigan, said: \u201cIt\u2019s almost 30 years since my daughter was murdered but the pain is as raw now as it was then.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will never go away until I can give her the dignity of a funeral<\/a> .<\/p>\n \u201cNo one should have to devote their life to searching for their murdered child. It\u2019s barbaric.<\/p>\n \u201cTo deliberately take a life and then go on to hide the remains plunges the victim\u2019s family into a never-ending living hell.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have done nothing wrong yet are sentenced to this nightmare from which we can never escape.\u201d<\/p>\n After we publicised her brave campaign over 343,000 people signed a petition calling for a change in the law.<\/p>\n And on Tuesday her MP Conor McGinn will raise the issue in the House of Commons<\/a> .<\/p>\n She believes 38 grieving families are in exactly the same position as her, and at least five will join her to see the Unlawful Killing (Recovery of Remains) Bill presented.<\/p>\n They include Sam Gillingham, 48, who was just 16 when her mum Carole Packman disappeared from the family home in Bournemouth aged 40 in 1985<\/p>\n Carole\u2019s husband Russell Causley was convicted of her murder and remains in prison<\/a>but refuses to reveal what he did with the body.<\/p>\n Mum-of-one Sam, of Northants, said: \u201cI feel as if I am failing as a daughter in not being able to give my mum a funeral.<\/p>\n If the police have done all that they can and the offender won\u2019t work with them to locate a body then life should mean life.\u201d<\/p>\n Tracy Richardson\u2019s mum Michelle Gunshon of Mill Hill, North London, vanished in December 2004 while working at the Clothes Show at the NEC in Birmingham.<\/p>\n After Martin Stafford, 44, was convicted in 2012 she wrote asking him to locate the body \u2013 but he died unexpectedly in jail last year, taking the secret with him to the grave.<\/p>\n Tracy, 32, said: \u201cThis law might have come too late for me but it will prevent other families from going through this ordeal.\u201d<\/p>\n Mum-of-two Jane Harrison, 32, of Highbury, North London, disappeared on June 15 1995 \u2013 but it took 18 years for her partner, Kevin Doherty, to be convicted of manslaughter in 2013.<\/p>\n Jane\u2019s heartbroken sisters, Maxine, 56, and Claire, 48, have written to him in jail pleading with him to reveal her whereabouts.<\/p>\n Maxine said: \u201cWe are still in limbo – no nearer to finding Jane. Her two sons are now 36 and 22 \u2013 and there are two grandsons she has never seen.<\/p>\n \u201cDoherty is never going to give Jane up of his own accord. This law is our only means of finding out what happened to her.\u201d<\/p>\n In December 2004 Stuart Martin, 40, was convicted of the manslaughter of his colleague Jonathan Dolton in 2002.<\/p>\n The 20-year-old\u2019s heartbroken parents, Sheila and Alan, 64 and 67, continually wrote to Martin begging for information about their son\u2019s body, but have received no reply.<\/p>\n After being released on licence Martin died from a heart condition.<\/p>\n Sheila, who still trawls the countryside in the hope of finding her son, said: \u201cJonathan is still out there somewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cAll we want is to bring him home, so he is back with the people that love him, not lying alone somewhere in a cold, unmarked grave.\u201d<\/p>\n Marie was friends with Winnie Johnson<\/a> – whose son Keith Bennett was the last missing victim of Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley.<\/p>\n Winnie spent 48 years searching for her son\u2019s grave but died with his whereabouts still unknown.<\/p>\n Marie added: \u201cOur greatest fear is that, like Winnie , we die before we can find our loved ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to save other families from this hell. I implore MPs to back this Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n Labour Conor McGinn MP said: \u201cHelen\u2019s Law has huge public support. More than 340,000 people have already signed the petition and the number is growing by the day.<\/p>\n \u201cThis proposed law has been already been introduced in some parts of Australia and there is no reason why it could not operate successfully here.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one should be forced to endure the anguish that Marie McCourt and her family and the relatives of other victims have suffered.\u201d<\/p>\n Marie added: \u201cA change in the law would be a dream come true \u2013 not just for me but all the other families out there suffering this injustice.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first launched my petition I never dreamed it would strike a chord with more than 343,000 people.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been overwhelmed by the amazing support and response this petition has had from members of the public – some who have never had to deal with something like this and some who have, sadly, dealt with terrible tragedies and who say this law is desperately needed. It has made me even more determined to see it through.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to have this law because of the sheer numbers of people who need it. If the bill is passed on Tuesday it still has to progress through Parliament but we will have crossed a huge hurdle; it will take so much pressure off us having to gather signatures and mean, finally, that the Government is listening.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a result of Brexit<\/a> such laws can now be passed. Although I was told by two Home Secretaries that Simms would never be released until he revealed where Helen\u2019s body was, everything changed under human rights laws. Since 2002 prisoners no longer had to show remorse or admit their guilt before they are considered for parole. How can that be right?<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully now the pendulum on rights will swing back towards the victims and their families who have suffered in silence for too long. I truly believe we can do this and change our judicial system for the better. I would implore all MPs to be present to vote in favour of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Daily Mirror<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"Helen](\"http:\/\/i3.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article8645309.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/Helen-McCourt.jpg\" "\\"Helen")
<\/div>![\"Marie](\"http:\/\/i4.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article7735668.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/Marie-McCourt.jpg\" "\\"Marie")
<\/div>![\"Jane](\"http:\/\/i2.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article1713609.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/Jane%20Harrison%20with%20her%20ex%20boyfriend%20Kevin%20Doherty%20on%20holiday.jpg\" "\\"Jane")
<\/div>![\"Winnie](\"http:\/\/i2.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article7006905.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/Winnie-Johnson-mother-of-Moors-Murder-victim-Keith-Bennett.jpg\" "\\"Winnie")
<\/div>![\"Keith](\"http:\/\/i2.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article7006904.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/Keith-Bennett.jpg\" "\\"Keith")
<\/div>![\"Ian](\"http:\/\/i4.mirror.co.uk\/incoming\/article7735666.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/Ian-Simms.jpg\" "\\"Ian")