HELEN'S LAW

A legal duty is to be imposed on the Parole Board to consider a prisoner's refusal to disclose where a victim's remains are when deciding on parole. The rule change announced in July by the then Justice Secretary David Gauke followed a campaign by Marie McCourt for a change in the law after her daughter Helen was killed in 1988 aged 22. Killer Ian Simms has never revealed the location of her remains. MPs voted back in 2016 to change the law but government has only just approved it. 6 July 2019