A CONVICTED murderer who was one of the first people in the country to be jailed without a body being found has had his parole denied.

Ian Simms was given a life sentence in 1989 for the murder of 22-year–old Helen McCourt, who disappeared on her way home from work in Liverpool.

He was convicted by overwhelming DNA linking him with the murder.

The local pub landlord in Billinge had blood on his clothes and her opal and sapphire ear ring was found in his car.

The ear ring’s butterfly clip was found in a bedroom at Simms’s flat.

His bloodstained clothes were recovered from banks of a river, and a knotted flex discovered nearby – which police believe was used to strangle Helen – had teeth marks in it matching those of the landlord’s dog and hairs identical to Helen’s caught in it.

But Simms, who is serving his life sentence at HMP Garth in Leyland, Lancashire, has refused to say where he buried Helen and insists he is innocent.

And he would not meet Helen’s mother, Marie McCourt, at his parole hearing.

Yesterday, Mrs McCourt said she was relieved to hear his parole had been denied. She said: “I am very pleased that he has been refused parole. He doesn’t deserve it.

“He has never shown any remorse towards killing Helen. You would think an innocent man would have wanted to meet me, but he couldn’t.

“He was a coward, he couldn’t even come into the parole board room when I was giving my evidence.

“I think the fact that he has never faced any of Helen’s family is a telling statement.