Those of us acquainted with the horrific murder of Katie Simpson knew the independent Department of Justice-commissioned review, which was published this week, was going to be profoundly disturbing and heartbreaking.
Few, however, were prepared for the cataclysmic extent of failure across multiple authorities.
It was a scorching hot day in August 2020 with Covid restrictions still in place, when Simpson – aged just 21 and dressed in her riding gear with her copper hair loose about her shoulders – was lowered into her grave. The tiny country church held only 30 people, socially distanced; the rest gathered outside, stunned, confused and distraught.
The coffin was carried by four men to the grave. One of them was Jonathan Creswell.
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Creswell, who was 36, was the partner of Katie’s sister Christina with whom he had two children. A horse trainer much sought after by the equestrian industry, he played the part of chief mourner at Katie’s funeral.
Creswell seemed to relish his centre stage role, presenting himself as a devastated brother-in-law, still traumatised at discovering Katie in the process of attempting to take her own life.
It was by all accounts an accomplished performance. He was lauded a hero for “rescuing” Katie, trying to save her life, keeping a bedside vigil in hospital and now carrying her on her final journey. But it was theatrics. Feigned emotion and heaving sobs gave way once he supervised the coffin being placed into the ground. As people began to disperse, Creswell stood on, staring into the grave, Christina at his side. To me, this seemed no painful last goodbye. It looked more like relief.
Those of us watching this drama, with knowledge of who Creswell was, were expecting police to swoop in at any minute.
[ Katie Simpson inquiry: What the independent report revealedOpens in new window ]
Within 24 hours of Katie’s admission to hospital, having covered the case that led to Creswell’s conviction in 2009 for assaulting his ex-partner, Olympic show jumper Abi Lyle, I contacted police to inform them of Creswell’s past convictions, the domestic violence, his treatment of women and, most significantly, his propensity for strangulation. An assurance was provided that officers would be in touch.
As I watched him at her grave, I foolishly thought the absence of police from the funeral was to allow a dignified finality to Katie’s pitifully short life.
With the audience now dwindling, Creswell lifted his head, caught sight of Katie’s longest and dearest friend, and broke into a diabolical smile.
He must have thought he’d pulled it off as he always did.
He was the great illusionist, manipulator, gaslighter, groomer. He was also, we now know, a murderer.
What happened after her funeral is well known. Police weren’t coming. It was case closed. Suicide. Except it wasn’t. It took seven months before Creswell was arrested on suspicion of murder.
The review report is more than damning, it is catastrophic and severely damaging to authorities, chiefly the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The report found that failure to preserve the crime scene and accepting Creswell’s account of Simpson’s “attempted suicide” and bruising – which he said was caused by a fall from a horse – were among the police failings at the outset of the investigation. Forensic evidence was missed. Creswell was allowed to control the narrative.
When Minister for Justice Naomi Long spoke on the review to the Northern Ireland Assembly, one member inquired what action would begin to immediately deal with PSNI failures. She replied that PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher had assured her all sudden deaths are now treated as suspicious until proven otherwise.
In reality, that particular procedure was adopted in 2010, 10 years before Katie’s murder. A few months ago, I asked the PSNI for a copy of their current death investigation manual. It’s a good resource and has had a number of amendments over the years. Nestled in the pages was a section called “investigative mindset ABC” – assume nothing, believe no one, challenge everything – the complete opposite to what happened in Simpson’s case. It was only added to the manual in 2025.
Eventually an investigation was launched and Creswell was arrested and charged. After a lot of wrangling, the Police Ombudsman also launched an investigation.
Radio silence followed for three years until the murder trial collapsed after one day without a single witness giving evidence. Creswell took his own life.
During a policing board meeting, the chief constable said while misconduct was found in the investigation, it was “not gross or criminal”. A year later the Ombudsman described the PSNI investigation as “flawed”, a gross understatement.
The review eventually exposed a toxic, misogynistic culture within PSNI ranks. Some women in this tragedy were treated very poorly: primarily Katie Simpson, whose memory deserved better than a shoddy, mishandled investigation.
Badly treated, too, were the first whistleblowers who were rudely dismissed and a number of nurses at the hospital. My enquiries as a journalist and someone who knew Katie weren’t welcomed, and the fact I previously covered Creswell’s violence in court was treated as irrelevant.
The review has raised a troubling, yet unaddressed issue. Was Simpson the only victim whose death was subject to such a flawed investigation? Was Creswell the only offender who slid through the system with malevolent ease? If so, why? What made this case different? And if not, how many more such cases might there be?
One of the key issues raised was the fact that Creswell’s previous record only showed his motoring convictions.
When pressed about this, the PSNI has never explained what occurred, only that the system has changed to ensure it cannot happen again. But if this occurred in Creswell’s case, did it happen in others?
I asked the PSNI if a deep dive had been carried out to establish if other records were likewise affected.
An unusually frank response indicated no such investigation had been conducted as the PSNI don’t know how they could go about it.
My experience of the PSNI in this case has been appalling, particularly when it comes to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. The report documents how, when I asked if An Garda Síochána had been contacted when Creswell was in Donegal and wanted for questioning about an incident in Antrim, the FOI request was deemed too expensive to answer. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) initially accepted this but later, the report says, “ruled that the PSNI provided incorrect information to the ICO, that they gave a false rationale for refusing the FOI request and that the PSNI may have misled the ICO in the process.”
As the sixth anniversary of Katie’s death approaches, with all the echoes of that haunting graveside tableau, there has at least now been acceptance of the vast failures she endured in her short life and untimely death, how she was “let down at every step”.
Ensuring those failures aren’t repeated is another matter.
Tanya Fowles is a freelance journalist
