The landlord of a country pub turned into a brutal murderer after fearing his web of lies and seedy affair would be exposed.
Ian Simms is set to be released from prison after 30 years behind bars for killing 22-year-old Helen McCourt in St Helens , in 1988.
He never told police where he disposed of her body despite her family repeatedly appealing for him to do so.
A parole board controversially said that Simms could be released as he did not represent a significant risk to the public.
The country was outraged at the decision and many questions are still being asked about the murder that rocked Merseyside.
With Helen's body still not recovered, people are asking what could lead a supposed "family man" to kill, theories believe it was his own sordid behaviour.
Web of lies about to unravel
Two days before Helen's disappearance, Helen got into a row with another woman in a pub called the George and Dragon - now the Billinge Arms.
Ian Simms, 31, was the landlord of the pub at the time and lived there with his wife and two small children.
After the argument between the two women, Simms banned Helen from the pub and a number of customers witnessed him shouting about her and using obscene language about.
He reportedly also said he "hated" Helen but it soon came to light that he had previously made sexual advances towards the 22-year-old insurance clerk and she rejected him.
At the time, Simms was also having an affair with a 21-year-old mistress and he believed Helen knew about it.
Many people believe that Simms killed Helen because she rejected him and was worried she would reveal his affair to his wife.
On the day of her murder, Helen McCourt spoke to her mum Marie on the phone about an hour before she left 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.
As Helen got off her bus at around 5.30pm she began walking 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.
