When 21-year-old Katie Simpson died in August 2020 after an event in her home, why did the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) accept the version of events offered by Jonathan Creswell, the man she shared a house with? He said she had taken her own life.
Why did they not look into his past as a convicted domestic abuser or her history of presenting at hospitals with injuries? Why did they so readily believe him?
Nearly a year after her death, he was charged with her murder and, on the second day of the trial in Belfast, he died by suicide.
In doing so, he not only denied his victim justice, but also stopped the details of her death and the investigation into it from being made public in a court.
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Now, a 200-page report on how her murder was handled has been published and it reveals a shocking litany of failures by the police that are not simply down to poor investigation techniques but something far more ingrained and sinister: “institutional misogyny”.
It also reveals that many more victims have come forward with allegations of abuse against Creswell, who was active in equestrian circles in Northern Ireland.
Seanín Graham, Northern correspondent of The Irish Times, explains how the report on PSNI failings has been received.
Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by John Casey and Andrew McNair.
