In 2015, McCourt's mother Marie began a campaign to require convicted murderers to reveal the location of their victims' remains before being considered for parole.

The campaign led to the introduction of the Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Act 2020, popularly known as "Helen's Law" in May 2019.

[3] On 9 February 1988, 22-year-old Helen McCourt spoke with her mother Marie by telephone before 4:00 p.m., shortly before she was due to leave work.

[4] Two days before her disappearance, McCourt had been involved in a heated argument with a woman in a pub called the George and Dragon (now the Billinge Arms).

Within minutes, a man leaving another bus heard a loud, abruptly stopped scream coming from the pub.

More of her blood was also found on the carpet at the foot of the stairs leading to his apartment, and splashed on wallpaper next to the outside door, where police believe that McCourt was first attacked.

In March, McCourt's handbag, taupe coat, maroon scarf, navy trousers, white knickers and green mittens were found on a riverbank in Irlam, about 20 miles away, in a black bin liner proved to have been taken from a roll in Simms' pub.

The presence of McCourt's trousers and underwear in the bin liner indicates the strong possibility that Simms sexually assaulted her before killing her.

[7] A man also came forward to say that, on the morning after McCourt's disappearance, he had discovered a blood-stained towel while walking his dog along the Manchester Ship Canal in Hollins Green, Warrington.

He could not explain how this other person could have entered the pub dressed in his clothes and attacked and murdered McCourt without disturbing him or his Rottweiler guard dog.

Since her daughter's disappearance, Marie McCourt has devoted herself to work for Support after Murder and Manslaughter (SAMM), and continued to pressure Simms to reveal the location of the body.

[7][13] In July 2008, a marble bench was placed on the grounds of St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, Billinge to mark what would have been McCourt's 43rd birthday.

[3][18] In December 2015, Marie McCourt launched a campaign to enact a law that would prevent convicted murderers who refuse to reveal the location of bodies of victims from being released on parole.

[22] In May 2019, the UK's Ministry of Justice announced plans to legislate so that parole would place "greater consideration on failure to disclose the location of a victim's remains".

[26] On discovering that her daughter's killer would be released, Marie McCourt urged the next government to introduce the law as a matter of urgency.