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

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. She came to the public eye following the

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

of her boyfriend

John McCarthy John McCarthy may refer to: Government * John George MacCarthy (1829–1892), Member of Parliament for Mallow constituency, 1874–1880 * John McCarthy (Irish politician) (1862–1893), Member of Parliament for the Mid Tipperary constituency, ...

, in 1985. Morrell was a tireless and effective campaigner for McCarthy's release from captors who held him in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

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

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

. 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, an ...

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

British Lung Foundation Asthma + Lung UK (formally Asthma and Lung UK) is a British charity based in London, England. It focuses on respiratory health, in particular asthma and lung disease. The organisation was formed in January 2020 as Asthma UK and the British Lung ...

Published works

* Jointly with

(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 near Ealing Broadway station, London, the same address as Transworld. It releases har ...

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