The police investigation into the death of Katie Simpson was “flawed and failed her family”, a watchdog has concluded.
A report by the Police Ombudsman found multiple failures, including a willingness to believe the account of Jonathan Creswell, who was later charged with her murder.
Ms Simpson (21) died in hospital six days after being admitted in August 2020.
The PSNI initially accepted the word of her sister’s boyfriend Jonathan Creswell when he claimed he had found her trying to kill herself. He was later charged with her murder, but took his own life one day into his trial earlier this year.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher later said “It is abundantly clear we got things wrong from the beginning” in the investigation into her death and said “huge lessons” were to be learned from it.
In a report published this morning, the ombudsman found police initially treated Ms Simpson’s death as a suicide and were influenced by Creswell’s misleading account of events, despite evidence and reports indicating controlling and coercive behaviour by him.
No thorough searches or forensic examinations were conducted at her home, and police took Creswell’s story at face value.
The case was also assigned to an inexperienced officer without sufficient oversight from senior departments, despite early concerns about Creswell’s violent history.
Jonathan Creswell was later charged with Ms Simpson’s murder, but died one day into this trial earlier this year.
Police also failed to follow up on suspicious circumstances, like CCTV footage showing Creswell leaving and returning to Ms Simpson’s address on August 3, and a woman taking a bag from the house and putting it in a second car, which was not pursued as a line of enquiry.
In addition, enquiries did not take place with the Simpson family and friends to see if they had any concerns and to gain a greater understanding of Ms Simpson’s life, and there was no clear witness strategy recorded until January 2021.
This resulted in missed opportunities to take accounts from potential witnesses who could have been valuable to the investigation.
The Police Ombudsman also found that the police investigation, which straddled three separate departments – Local Policing Team (LPT), Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Major Investigation Team (MIT) – until it was transferred to a MIT in January 2021, was affected by insufficient oversight and guidance.
“If not for concerns raised by a small number of individuals, both inside and outside the PSNI, there is every likelihood that Katie’s death would have been recorded as a suicide,” said Police Ombudsman chief Hugh Hume
“That would have deprived her family and friends of any opportunity for justice, which was ultimately denied them by Creswell’s death.
“It would, however, also have exposed members of the public, particularly young women, to the continued risk posed by Creswell, whose actions, had they gone undetected, may have become increasingly emboldened.”
More to follow
Jonathan Creswell, the murder of Katie Simpson and the three-woman cover-up
