New Year honours for mother of murdered Helen McCourt, Wigan college principal, charity workerand ex-councillor

Marie McCourt was awarded an MBE for services to the families of the victims of unlawful killings.

Her 22-year-old daughter Helen McCourt was murdered in 1988 as she walked to her home in Billinge.

Her killer Ian Simms never admitted his crime or revealed what he had done with her remains and was one of the few people in British legal history to have been convicted of murder without the victim’s body being found.

Mrs McCourt campaigned for the introduction of a legal clause known as Helen’s Law, awarding killers who fail to disclose the resting place of their victims extra time behind bars.

While her efforts were successful, the law came too late to thwart Simms’ bid for release from prison. He was granted his freedom in 2020, but died earlier this year.

Mrs McCourt, 79, has no idea who nominated her for the MBE but said she was “very grateful” to them.

She said: “It was a big surprise. I have been trying to get Helen’s Law and I have finally got it, so I was just really pleased with that and that was that as far as I was concerned.

"When I found out about this award, I didn’t know what to say.”

Mrs McCourt said she hoped Helen and other relatives would be “up there” having a party to celebrate.

She added: “I think, more than anything, she would be very happy that we now have Helen’s Law and hopefully we can take it along on other steps as well, to tighten things up for killers.”

There was a CBE for Peter McGhee, principal at St John Rigby Sixth Form College in Orrell, for services to further education.

He has been at the helm since 2010 and led the college as it progressed from requiring improvement to being judged as “outstanding” by Ofsted.

He spent two years as a national leader of further education – one of only 12 in the country – and supported Loreto Sixth Form College in Manchester, which had been unable to replace its principal following retirement.

Former councillor Robert Splaine, known as Bob, received an MBE for services to the community in Atherton and the North West.

He was elected in 2001 and represented Atherton for the Liberal Democrats and as an independent.

He is an award-winning vegetable gardener, was president of Atherton Rotary Club and raised £70,000 for The Christie with his wife Ilse, including by holding strawberry fairs.

Rachael Fraser, care services manager for Wigan charity Caring Connections, was awarded the British Empire Medal for her work supporting vulnerable adults during the pandemic.

She oversaw the delivery of care and support packages, developed well-being programmes to support staff and introduced support schemes to reduce social isolation for vulnerable people.

She said: “I am so proud to receive this honour, never in a million years did I think I would ever have these letters after my name. I would really like to dedicate this to all the hard-working social care workers out there who really don’t receive the recognition they deserve.”