Joan Lawrence and Marie McCourt, whose daughters have never been found, have formed a strong bond through their shared experience and recently marked their 80th birthdays
The mothers of Helen McCourt and Claudia Lawrence tell how their dearest wish is for their missing daughters to be found as they mark their 80th birthdays together in their shared grief.
Marie McCourt and Joan Lawrence have become close friends over the years of heartache since their beloved children were cruelly snatched from them. Now they are providing each other with strength and courage as they reach yet another milestone without knowing what happened to the young women.
Both say: “I just need to know what happened to my daughter before I die.” But Marie adds: “With each birthday that passes it’s looking more unlikely.” She adds: “It gets harder with every birthday that passes. All I can do is keep hoping, praying and searching.”
This is Marie’s 35th year without Helen, who disappeared aged 22 on her way home from her job as an insurance clerk in St Helens, Merseyside, in February 1988. Local pub landlord Ian Simms was jailed for life in 1989 for her murder, on the grounds of overwhelming forensic evidence. Despite never revealing where he had hidden Helen’s body he was set free in 2020, and died last year aged 66, taking the secret to his grave.