The father of murdered showjumper Katie Simpson has said she was “stolen” from her family after a scathing report from a watchdog found multiple police failings in its initial investigation into her death.
At a press conference following the publication of the NI Police Ombudsman inquiry, Hugh Simpson criticised the “light touch” approach by the Police Service of Northern Ireland in disciplining officers who failed to act on repeated warnings and treated the 21-year-old’s killing as suicide for months.
The Simpsons had been left “seriously retraumatised” by the “deplorable” mishandling of the case – misconduct action was recommended for six PSNI officers, none of whom were sacked – and the “unfolding horror” that Ms Simpson’s killer was “living in their midst” for weeks after her brutal murder, according to their solicitor, Kevin Winters.
Ms Simpson’s mother, Noleen, became emotional as she told reporters that if it had not been for the diligence of one specific officer at a later stage of the investigation, the killer, Jonathan Creswell, would “still be out there today”.
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“He’d be controlling girls, raping girls and murdering girls,” she said.
Nothing should take away from Creswell’s “psychopathic evil”.
Katie Simpson, from Tynan, a village near Armagh town, died in Altnagelvin Area Hospital almost a week after an incident in Gortnessy Meadows, Lettershandoney, on August 3rd, 2020.
It was not until the following year that Creswell (36), who was in a relationship with Ms Simpson’s sister, was arrested on suspicion of murder.
On the second day of his trial in April, Creswell was found dead at his home at Briar Hill Gardens in Greysteel, Co Derry.
The Ombudsman report focused on the actions of the PSNI, from the moment when it first received a phone call from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) on August 3rd, 2020, requesting police assistance, until the transfer of the investigation to the PSNI’s major investigation team in January 2021.
It concluded the early PSNI investigation was “flawed” and that the Simpson family was “failed”.
Despite multiple complaints by members of the public and some police officers that Ms Simpson had been subjected to controlling and coercive behaviours by Creswell, there was a “misleading working assumption” that her injuries were self-inflicted.
Police also knew that Creswell had been convicted and jailed for six months for assaulting his former partner, Abi Lyle, in 2009.
“Although it is clear that this intelligence was viewed and logged by police, it did not change the direction of the police investigation,” the report found.
A “general lack of an investigative mindset” led to shortcomings in evidence identification and scene management and identification, added Ombudsman chief executive, Hugh Hume.
There was also a willingness to “to accept at face value the accounts from Jonathan Creswell”.
A litany of police failings are detailed in the 60-page watchdog report.
No effective searches were carried out at Ms Simpson’s address. Her car – which Creswell had driven to meet the ambulance – was seized but there was no forensic examination of the vehicle.
Police had also failed to establish the whereabouts of Ms Simpson’s mobile phone.
Its location was only discovered following an interview with Creswell after his arrest in March 2021. It had been hidden in a field.
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“Among the other investigative failings identified was the lack of consideration given to gathering potential physical evidence from Katie herself, including blood samples and photographs of her injuries, despite police being aware at an early stage that she was unlikely to survive.
“No inquiries were conducted to establish the circumstances of Katie’s alleged fall from a horse.”
The Police Ombudsman recommended disciplinary proceedings against six officers. However, two retired from the PSNI and the cases could not proceed.
One officer got a written warning, two others received less serious sanctions and no misconduct was proven in another officer’s case.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, PSNI assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck acknowledged the “shortcomings” at “various stages” of its investigation.
“I unreservedly apologise for this,” he said.
