Helen McCourt (July 29, 1965 – February 9, 1988)

As far as memory banks go, I have an inkling that I remember reading about this case. It turns out that the convicted murderer, Ian Simms, died on June 24, 2022 without ever revealing the final resting place of his victim. He was convicted on DNA evidence alone, the first of its kind in the UK.

I started watching this series last night on Netflix. Its format allows for a very clear timeline of events, which then allows me to do ‘missing’ charts. This one hinges on the mother’s intuition that something was wrong @ 5:40 pm on that fateful day.

First, Let’s Meet Helen McCourt

This is a randomized chart. But I wasn’t surprised by the double-ended Yod focused on Mars and Saturn and supported by inconjuncts to the Moon and the Midheaven. The story of her life couldn’t be more clear. However, depending on the actual time of her birth, Helen’s only enduring inconjunct could be between Mars and Saturn.

Mars Inconjunct Saturn

This can be a difficult aspect because it signifies a conflict between your sense of responsibility and your desire to fulfill your own needs and do what you want. This leads to a struggle within you that may keep you from acting decisively. Instead of deciding what you will do, you feel caught between these two forces, wondering whether you have the right to do what you want. You may feel that others are trying to frustrate you, but it is only your own indecisiveness that is causing the trouble. Sometimes this conflict makes you very irritable and resentful about nothing in particular. Then, when someone happens to act in a way that is obviously annoying, you focus all your built-up anger on that person.

Sometimes with this aspect there really is someone in your life wo discourages you and makes you feel that your efforts are futile. You must learn to avoid negative people who make you feel bad about yourself.

The “Event”

Helen McCourt spoke with her mother Marie by telephone before 4:00 pm on 9 February 1988, shortly before she was due to leave work. She was planning to go out for the evening with her new boyfriend and wanted her tea ready earlier so she had time to wash her hair.

Two days before her disappearance, Helen had been involved in a heated argument with a woman in a pub called the George and Dragon (now the Billinge Arms). The landlord was Ian Simms, who was aged 31 at the time and married with two small children. After the argument, Simms had banned Helen from the pub and, according to several customers, had used obscene language about her and said how much he “hated” her. He had made repeated sexual advances to Helen which she had rejected, and also believed Helen knew about his affair with his 21-year-old mistress – who he had moved into the pub flat behind his wife’s back – and was gossiping about it.

Helen alighted from her bus around 5:15 pm and set off on the short journey home, a route that took her past the pub. Within minutes, a man getting off another bus heard a loud scream coming from the pub that was cut short. Helen has never been seen or heard from since that night.

Wikipedia

You can see by the lineup of the planets that the deck was stacked against her: Moon/Pluto opposite the Midheaven; Sun/Mercury opposite the Ascendant; Mars/Saturn/Uranus part of a Grand Trine with Jupiter and the Ascendant. I suspect the Universe had a hand in the ‘event’ in order to try out the use of DNA as proof in court (Jupiter). At any rate, blood, fibers and hair were enough to do the job.

Combining the Charts

Literally, it seems that Helen’s ending should not have happened this way. But the real truth would probably be revealed if we looked at this case from Ian Simms’ point-of-view. I might explore this case further. In the meantime, here’s the full episode for your viewing ‘pleasure’…