Woman ordered to pay daughter’s killer $50K for trying to stop his release unless he revealed body's location
A mother has been told to pay her daughter's killer more than $50,000 after she had taken legal action to stop him from coming out of prison. The mother, Marie McCourt, said that the killer should not have been considered for parole until he revealed where her daughter's body was, reports state.
Ian Simms, 64, a former pub landlord, strangled 22-year-old Helen McCourt to death when she was walking home from work in Billinge, Merseyside, Britain in 1988. Simms was convicted of Helen's murder a year later on DNA fingerprint evidence. It was agreed by the UK ministers last year to adopt a Helen's Law, which would bar killers from taking parole if they refused to reveal where the victims' body was. However, just a month before the legislation was introduced in March, Simms was let out on licence.
The mother has since then argued that Simms should have continued to remain in prison. Marie had taken her case to the High Court seeking a stay on Simms' parole, however, the court ruled last week that the Parole Board had adopted a “balanced approach” on Simms. Judges reportedly also refused Marie permission to challenge their decision and told her to pay toward the killer's legal costs. The 77-year-old mother now just has days to contest the ruling.
Lady Justice Macur and Mr Justice Chamberlain disagreed in their written ruling, saying: "... we have concluded that the panel's decision involved no arguable public law error. The panel were acutely aware of the sensitivities in this case and adopted a careful and balanced approach both to the procedure to be adopted and to the assessment of Simms' current risk," according to reports.
Marie, in a recent statement, said that she now lacked the "energy, stamina or fund" to continue her battle in court. "I don’t believe I can take this legal fight much further. It’s almost killing me," she said, according to The Sun. "To carry on would just put my family and everyone else through the wringer again."
"I am bitterly disappointed," McCourt said, according to Birmingham Mail. "This was my last chance to get my daughter's killer to admit where he hid her body. I did my best, and so did my legal team but, sadly, this hasn't produced the result we wanted in getting Simms back into prison. We are now discussing my next steps."
Shadow Justice Secretary David Lammy, however, came to the McCourt family's defense, saying the family should not have to pay Simms a penny. "The Government should recognize the exceptionally tragic circumstances here and apply some common sense," Lammy said.
Meanwhile, Labour’s Conor McGinn, who is Marie's MP, also defended her and called on Justice Secretary Robert Buckland to act on the court's ruling. "This is perverse and a travesty of justice. Marie has already suffered so much and this just compounds her pain," McGinn said. "The Justice Secretary needs to urgently intervene to show Marie and other victims that their Government is on their side.”