The PSNI is reviewing three deaths recorded as suicide following the publication of a scathing watchdog probe into the force’s investigation of the death of Co Armagh showjumper Katie Simpson.
It comes as Alliance MLA Nuala McAllister revealed she privately gave a list of deaths she believes need relooked at to the chief constable.
The Policing Board member told BBC News NI she had been given the names by individual police officers and family members with concerns.
“I am confident and have been assured now that we have senior investigating officers that have been appointed, we have family liaison officers so that families do feel listened to,” she added.
“But moving forward this is a much wider issue, we need to have total confidence in the PSNI.
“To do that we need to ensure the PSNI, that their practices, their procedures, are up to scratch when it comes to actually tackling violence against women and girls and where that has failed, where women have died, exploring every avenue, exploring every plausible circumstance and every explanation for what happened to that woman.”
Detectives initially believed that Ms Simpson had taken her own life when she was found dead back in 2020, but a Police Ombudsman report published earlier this week found the initial investigation was “flawed” and had failed her family.
“Following the Katie Simpson case, the Police Service of Northern Ireland is reviewing three cases recorded as suicide,” a police spokesperson said.
The ombudsman’s investigation concluded that the police probe into the 21-year-old’s death was hindered by the misleading working assumption adopted by a number of officers that Ms Simpson’s injuries were self-inflicted.
It criticised a “lack of investigative mindset” taking into account that police had received intelligence that Ms Simpson may have been the victim of controlling behaviours, that the attempted suicide was suspicious, that she had not fallen from a horse, and that medical staff had also expressed concerns about the circumstances of her injuries.
Police Ombudsman chief executive Hugh Hume said although this intelligence was viewed and logged by police, it “did not change the direction of the police investigation”.
“There appeared to be a general lack of an investigative mindset which contributed to shortcomings,” he added.
Ms Simpson died in Altnagelvin Area Hospital on August 9, 2020 nearly a week after an incident in Gortnessy Meadows in Lettershandoney.
It was not until the following year that her sister’s partner Jonathan Creswell was arrested on suspicion of murder.
However, the trial of the 36-year-old ended in April following his sudden death.
Among the litany of failures identified by the ombudsman was officers’ willingness to believe Creswell’s misleading account that Ms Simpson had fallen from a horse — even in spite of evidence to the contrary and reports indicating controlling and coercive behaviour.
No thorough searches or forensic examinations were conducted at the dead woman’s home and opportunities to interview key witnesses were missed.
Family solicitor Kevin Winters described the report as “a stepping stone on what’s still a long tortuous road to justice” as he insisted there are still unsolved issues into the “unacceptable debacle” of the initial probe.