Jill Morrell (born 1957) is a British charity worker and former

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. She came to the public eye following the

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/ asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the ...

of her boyfriend John McCarthy, in 1986. Morrell was a tireless and effective campaigner for McCarthy's release from captors who held him in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

for more than 5 years. Morrell was raised in Yorkshire, and is a graduate of the

University of Hull , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 millio ...

. She met McCarthy while they were both working as journalists. They had been in a relationship for only a short time prior to McCarthy's abduction. She kept McCarthy's name in the public domain with a campaign to free him, called "Friends of John McCarthy" (FOJM). In 2009, she commented "I have found it hard to view the Friends of John McCarthy campaign with any real sense of personal achievement." After McCarthy's release on 8 August 1991, the couple remained together until 1994, and wrote a joint memoir, '' Some Other Rainbow'', but they parted amicably. McCarthy subsequently met BBC photographer Anna Ottewill, and they married in April 1999. Morrell worked for charity Cancerbackup (now

Macmillan Cancer Support Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer. It also looks at the social, emotional and practical impact cancer can have, ...

) as their Policy and Public Affairs Manager. She later held the role of Head of Public Affairs with the

British Lung Foundation The British Lung Foundation (BLF) is a British charity that promotes lung health and supports those affected by lung disease. History The British Lung Foundation was established by Professor Sir Malcolm Green and a group of United Kingdom lun ...

Published works

* Jointly with John McCarthy (1993). ''Some Other Rainbow''.

Bantam Press Bantam Press is an imprint of Transworld Publishers which is a British publishing division of Penguin Random House. It is based on Uxbridge Road in Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in th ...

References

1957 births Living people Alumni of the University of Hull British writers People educated at Thorne Grammar School Place of birth missing (living people) {{UK-writer-stub