Heartbreaking secret kept by killer who kidnapped and murdered his schoolgirl niece – as monster makes bid for freedom
Simms was released from prison despite not disclosing the location of McCourt’s remains.The murderer was married to Danielle’s dad’s sister, Debbie – making him her uncle through marriage.
Her mother Marie McCourt campaigned for a change in the law, which passed through parliament in 2020 and came into effect the following year.Now, he has made an application to the Parole Board which confirmed last Wednesday that it is reviewing his case.The panel decided in 2022 that after assessing Campbell’s file, he didn’t reach the threshold for a full parole hearing and was still too dangerous to be released. In 2019, Linda said she did not want him to be released if he still hadn’t revealed where her body was, citing Helen’s Law.
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Phone records also disproved Campbell’s alibi and in August 2001, and he was arrested for the kidnap and murder of Danielle.The law means that criminals who do not disclose the location of the remains of their victims or the identity of victims of child abuse cannot be granted parole for their offences.Helen’s Law refers to The Prisoner’s (Disclosure of Information) Act that came into force in January 2021.In the early summer of June 2001, Danielle left to catch a bus for school, in Tilbury, Essex – she never came home.
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Danielle’s mum, Linda, said before that hearing: “It’s important I tell him face-to-face how this has impacted on me and I will be reading my statement out myself.
Along with a sex bag of lingerie, handcuffs and most crucially, a pair of blood stained white, hold-ups that contained traces of Danielle’s DNA.Danielle, then 12, was one of their bridesmaids.Stuart Campbell, now 66, has never confessed to killing his niece, Danielle Jones, then aged 15, in 2001.The evidence included handwritten notes to his “Princess” found in Danielle’s pencil case.Campbell met Debbie when she was 15 and the pair lived together for 13 years before marrying in August 1998.A KILLER who kidnapped and murdered his young niece after luring her into a van has made a second bid for release.”Whether I look at him, I couldn’t tell you, but he needs to be in that room listening to what he has done to the family.”
