Latest news with #KatieSimpson
CBC
5 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Canada's trade team downplays chances of deal with U.S. by Aug. 1
CBC News Washington reporter Katie Simpson has the latest from D.C. as Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and U.S. Ambassador Kirsten Hillman say they're working toward a deal by Aug. 1 — but that they'll take the 'time necessary to get the best deal' for Canadians. LeBlanc and Hillman met with U.S. senators and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The Independent
18-07-2025
- The Independent
New charity to address ‘hidden homicides' receives calls within hours of launch
A new charity to support families who believe the deaths of their loved ones were suspicious received calls for assistance within hours of it being set up. Independent charity The Katie Trust was founded by retired detective sergeant James Brannigan in memory of murdered showjumper Katie Simpson. It has been supported by her family, who said they believe the demand is there and want to help others going through what they suffered. Ms Simpson, 21, who was from Tynan, Co Armagh, died in Altnagelvin hospital almost a week after an incident in Gortnessy Meadows, Lettershandoney, on August 3 2020. Police originally thought she had taken her own life. It was not until the following year that Jonathan Creswell, the partner of Ms Simpson's sister, was arrested on suspicion of murder. The trial of 36-year-old Creswell for the murder of Ms Simpson ended in April last year following his sudden death. Northern Ireland's Police Ombudsman found the initial police investigation was flawed and had failed Ms Simpson's family. The ombudsman is currently examining another complaint around the case. Mr Brannigan described the murder investigation as one of the most challenging he ever worked on, and said he believes there are many 'hidden homicides' out there. He told media in Belfast on Friday that they started to receive inquiries from families just after they launched online on Thursday. 'There are two cases being sent to me as we speak, and the shocking thing these families that I'm trying to help is they were put to me by police officers, and police officers who felt that they could not go internally to get the answers for these families,' he said at the offices of KRW Law in Belfast. 'That is what we have to do as this charity – pose the question to police. 'We're not going to circumvent the role of the ombudsman, that's got to do with the behaviour and conduct of police officers, where no investigation has taken place, we will go in and ask the questions.' Mr Brannigan described The Katie Trust as having been born from tragedy, and the 'devastating failings that followed in how her case was treated'. 'I've spoken with far too many families who've endured the same pain – where a death is labelled as suicide, accident, or disappearance before the facts are fully known, and where concerns raised by loved ones are too easily dismissed,' he said. Mr Brannigan said the charity will support families who have lost someone suddenly and feel something is not right, by bringing in specialist investigators, search advisers and family liaison officers to independently examine the circumstances of a death. 'If we find failings, we will act, pushing for further inquiry and accountability, and if no foul play is found, we will give families the peace of mind they deserve,' he said. 'This trust is here to listen when so many have not. It is here to ask the hard questions when others will not, and above all, it is here to stand beside families not in opposition to law enforcement but in service of justice and truth. 'This charity is Katie's legacy, but it will serve every family that needs a voice, a path to answers and the dignity of being heard.' Two of Ms Simpson's aunts, Paula Mullan and Colleen McConville, said the setting up of the charity 'means so much to us'. Ms Mullan said they are very proud of Mr Brannigan setting it up. 'It means a lot to us to know that families are going to get help that we didn't get,' she said. Ms McConville said they do not want other families to go through what they did. 'It was so distressing, we felt so let down. Family members didn't know where to turn, and it felt as if no-one was listening, it was awful,' she said. 'With people reaching out to the trust already, it goes to show, and it's so sad, but there is a demand for it. 'It will be life changing for families, it will really help them.' Mr Brannigan said at this stage they are self-funding the charity but hope to go on to secure funding from the Department of Justice.
BBC News
18-07-2025
- BBC News
Katie Simpson: New charity 'a legacy' to murdered young showjumper
The family of a young showjumper whose death led to a policing controversy say a new charitable trust in her name will help other Simpson, 21, died six days after being admitted to Altnagelvin Hospital in August Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) initially treated her death as suicide, but her family raised questions about the direction of the original police probe and the case was eventually upgraded to a murder investigation.A showjumping trainer, Jonathan Creswell, 36, died in 2024 while on trial for the murder of Ms Simpson, who was from the village of Tynan in County Armagh. On Friday, some members of her family attended the official launch of The Katie aunt, Paula Mullan, told BBC News NI that she hopes the charity will help other families."This charity is going to help so much and so many people, that they don't feel alone and that they're being answered, their questions to be answered."Another aunt, Colleen McConville said: "The very sad thing is it's happening too often. "This charity will help straight away from the onset, not down the line, which is harder to be investigated, so it will give families direct and quick answers." The Katie Trust has been founded by James Brannigan, a retired PSNI Detective Sergeant who led the murder investigation, with the support of Katie Simpson's relatives."This Trust is here to listen, when so many have not. It is here to ask the hard questions, when others will not," Mr Brannigan said. "And above all, it is here to stand beside families, not in opposition to law enforcement, but in service of justice and truth."In January 2025, the justice minister announced she was setting up an independent review into the case of Jonathan had been jailed for six months in 2010 after pleading guilty to assaulting a girlfriend. Katie Simpson never regained consciousness following the incident at a house in Gortnessy Meadows, Lettershandoney, in August the first and only day of his trial for murder, it was alleged that Creswell strangled her and tried to cover it up by claiming she had hanged who had denied the murder and rape of Ms Simpson, was found dead at his home shortly before he was due to attend the second day of his trial in April previous day, during opening submissions in front of a jury, a prosecution lawyer outlined how Creswell allegedly raped, strangled and killed Ms prosecution had also outlined how Creswell had previous "illicit" sexual relations with Ms Simpson and attacked her after discovering she was in a relationship with another younger Simpson lived with Creswell and his partner Christina, who was her sister, at the time of her had been described as an abusive and controlling women avoided jail last year after admitting offences connected to her Robinson, Rose De Montmorency-Wright, and Hayley Robb were given suspended prison sentences.
Daily Mail
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Lovesick woman who helped her 'psychopath' ex cover up the rape and murder of his 21-year-old sister-in-law breaks down in tears as she reveals her regret
A woman who was sentenced for her part in covering up the murder of a 21-year-old jockey for the sake of her lover has spoken out for the first time since the young woman's death. Jill Robinson, 43, took the bloodied clothes of her lover Jonathan Creswell to a launderette after he had beaten, raped and murdered his young showjumper sister-in-law after having an affair with her. It was assumed for six months that Katie Simpson, found with a rope around her neck at home in the village of Tynan in Northern Ireland, had died by suicide. But unexplained bruises and cuts on her body, including on her inner thigh, and her 'swollen and bruised' hands eroded that theory - although the case was stifled for half a year before an investigation was finally opened. After brutally attacking and killing Katie, Creswell was able to cover his tracks with the help of three women - including Jill, who was 'infatuated' with him. Speaking for the first time in a new Sky documentary about Katie's tragic death, Robinson breaks down in tears as she reveals how she was manipulated by Creswell. 'You don't understand how they get into your head and just sort of take over your life,' she sobs. 'Every day I ask myself, "Why did I do that, why did I wash them?" A lot of people don't understand the way he was, that you didn't question anything. 'You blame yourself so much, how you got yourself involved in something that led to such catastrophic results.' Robinson, killer Creswell and victim Katie all ran in the same close-knit equestrian circles. Katie was the horse-mad baby sister of Christina Simpson, who was married to Jonathan Creswell. They were also close with groom Hayley Robb and teenage British equestrian star called Rose de Montmorency-Wright; who also helped Creswell cover up his horrific crimes. Speaking in the trailer, Robinson describes the group's 'wild' life working together, hanging out together and 'living the horsey dream'. Creswell, 36, was a charming and deeply manipulative jockey-turned-trainer who was adored at the local stable yard in Derry. On August 3, 2020, a distraught Creswell called police and told them he had desperately tried to save the life of Katie, Christina's younger sister, after finding her hanging from a bannister. Weeping, he spun a tale in which he had cut her down and administered CPR. But it later emerged that Katie - lively, talented and sociable - had not taken her own life but had been brutally murdered by Creswell in a fit of jealousy. Despite obvious holes in Creswell's cover-up story, it was months before police properly investigated the suspicious death. Finally, in March, 2021, Creswell was arrested and charged with Katie's rape and murder. Creswell was not only engaged in multiple sexual relationships with other women – including Katie herself – but three women had lied to try to cover up for him. One of them, Rose de Montmorency-Wright, 22, had lived with Katie, Creswell and Christina, and had helped carry Katie's coffin at her funeral. The others were Robinson and Hayley Robb, those friends of Katie's who'd lived out their 'horsey dream' by her side. All three women later pleaded guilty to offences ranging from perverting the course of justice to withholding information, and received suspended sentences. But Creswell never faced justice, because at 9am on April 24, 2024, one day after the prosecution had outlined their case at his trial, his body was found at his home. Creswell was a talented young jockey six years Robinson's junior and her first love. It was an 'all-consuming' passion, she said, even though his phone quickly started ringing with other women at the end of the line. 'The first time I thought he was with someone else it was like complete devastation, like someone had taken out your heart and crushed it like an Easter egg. But he talked his way out of it,' she says. Creswell routinely inflicted slaps, punches and hair-pulling on Robinson, but that was nothing compared to the mental cruelty he was capable of. Creswell had a way to 'make you feel that small, completely destroy your self-confidence', Robinson previously recalled. Their relationship ended in 2008 when she went to Australia. After a six-month stint in prison following his abuse of talented dressage rider Abi Lyle, Creswell quickly began a relationship with Christina, with whom he went on to have two children. What no one knew is that he was simultaneously grooming her little sister Katie, who was just nine when she first met him. 'He controlled and coerced Katie since she was a child,' Detective Sergeant James Brannigan, the officer instrumental in bringing Creswell to justice, told a court hearing. No one knows when his relationship with Katie became sexual, although some locals noticed that the bubbly young horsewoman seemed terrified of Creswell hearing suggestions that she might get a boyfriend. 'Don't go saying anything like that in front of Johnny,' a family friend, Chris Faloon, recalls Katie pleading with him after he suggested another showjumper might be keen on her. Nonetheless, a few weeks before she died, Katie had embarked on a relationship with a showjumper called Shane McCloskey, who is not named in the documentary but was identified by the Mail last year. The extent of her fear of Creswell was exposed in a frantic exchange of messages with McCloskey, in which she begged him to lie about the fact they had spent the previous night together if Creswell got in touch. 'He'll kill me,' she wrote. A day later, an outwardly devastated Creswell rang the ambulance service to say he had returned from dropping off his children at his mother's house to find Katie hanging from the banister of the family home. He insisted on attempting to take her directly to Altnagelvin Hospital in his car to avoid paramedics visiting the house. 'No one was more distraught,' recalls Robinson. Not everyone was convinced by Creswell's story, however. Some nurses raised concerns over bruises on Katie's body. Her injuries were 'shocking' says DS Brannigan. 'Her hands were like boxing gloves, they were that swollen and bruised. There were marks on her legs, on her inner thigh, there was a massive bruise on her shoulder, a small cut to her lip and bruises on her arms.' Katie's friends – Jill and Hayley – claimed she'd fallen from a horse the day before, but Brannigan was not convinced. Nonetheless, when Katie died six days later, having never recovered consciousness, the narrative that she had taken her own life had been set in stone. Local police seemed uninterested in investigating. Tanya Fowles, a journalist who knew Katie and had suspicions that all was not right, recalls a Derry police officer accusing her of being a 'curtain twitcher' when she rang to alert them to Creswell's previous convictions for violence. DS Brannigan, who worked in County Armagh but had been contacted by Fowles to see if he could help, recalls how he was similarly stonewalled, with Derry detectives telling him Katie had tried to take her own life twice. As he later discovered, they had mistakenly logged two suicide 'attempts' – the first when she arrived in hospital and the second when she died from her injuries. It would take six months of dogged work by Brannigan and Fowles for Derry police to finally open an investigation. When previously unexamined internal swabs taken during the post mortem came back showing Creswell's semen, detectives had enough to arrest him. Even then, Creswell tried to bluster his way out of it, announcing he'd been in a relationship with Katie since she was 17 and that they'd had sex several times the night before she'd gone to hospital. His arrogance would also be his undoing, however. Later in the interview, he drew a diagram showing how he'd found Katie. 'He said she was "kissing the wood" meaning her head was facing the inside banister,' Brannigan recalls. Yet when the detective revisited the scene he discovered that the strap with which Katie had purportedly hung herself was not long enough to do this. On March 6, 2021, Creswell was charged with Katie's murder – the first of what would prove to be several criminal charges in relation to her death. In the weeks that followed, astonished detectives uncovered CCTV footage showing Hayley Robb following Creswell's car home from hospital before entering his home then leaving with a bag and placing it in the boot of her own vehicle. She subsequently admitted that as Katie lay dying, she and Robinson had taken Creswell's clothes to a launderette. Robb had also cleaned up traces of blood in the house. Rose de Montmorency-Wright, who had platonically shared a double bed with Katie for a while, was subsequently arrested in England and brought back to Northern Ireland for questioning. Brannigan says: 'She admitted to us "Yeah. He told me he'd beaten Katie". And I said "Why didn't you tell us?" 'She said she believed Katie had taken her own life and didn't believe it was relevant. I pushed her on it, but she asked to speak to a solicitor and when she came back she wouldn't say anything.' She subsequently pleaded guilty to withholding information, and received an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. Robinson received a 16-month suspended sentence for perverting the course of justice, and Robb two years, suspended for two years, for withholding information and perverting the course of justice. Katie's sister Christina, whom police also believed was subject to coercive control by Creswell, was not prosecuted. Loyal to the end, Jill Robinson, who visited Creswell in prison when he was on remand, confides that she felt she had 'let Johnny down' by telling the truth. It subsequently emerged he was facing a catalogue of allegations from more than a dozen other women, among them a teenage girl who had spoken to police about being abused by Creswell.
Daily Mail
14-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Jockey raped and killed his sister-in-law and claimed it was suicide - now Olympian he dated for a year reveals how 'kind and charming Johnny' beat and threatened to kill her and why it was 'excruciating to leave' him
An Olympian whose abusive ex-boyfriend would go on to rape and murder another woman has revealed how leaving him was 'the hardest thing' she ever did. Olympic dressage rider and horse-trainer, Abigail Lyle, from Bangor, Co Down, was 23-years-old when she got together with charismatic jockey-turned-trainer Jonathan Creswell - who would kill showjumper Katie Simpson, 21, a decade later. Now the story of Katie's murder is set to be told in an upcoming three-part Sky documentary, Death of a Showjumper, prompting Abigail to open up about the details of her relationship with killer Creswell. After meeting at an equestrian event in Belfast, Abi and Creswell, from Greysteel, Co Derry, became a couple, and were in a relationship for around nine months between 2008 and 2009. Creswell charmed everyone he met, and if anybody suspected that his wide smile and knowing strut masked a profoundly sinister side, then they said nothing. But despite his charming exterior, during their relationship, Creswell inflicted a barrage of physical and emotional abuse on Abi, now 40 - so much so, that her father put her in touch with police domestic violence officer Nuala Lappin to help her leave him. Abi initially refused to cooperate with Nuala, blaming herself for herself for Creswell's rages. Among his attacks, she has described being taken to woodland where Creswell kicked, punched and strangled her, threatening to dump her body as she fought to stay alive, aware of the devastating grief that would engulf her parents, who had lost her brother three years earlier. 'I was thinking, "Don't let him kill you because your parents have already lost a child and they can't lose another one",' she said. She added that she saw 'red flags' at first - like Creswell taking phone calls from other women, during which he'd lie about being with Abi. He also checked her phone, and criticised her after she had spent time with family and friends, saying he didn't like her personality after socialising. Then in February 2009, Creswell assaulted Abigail for the first time after they'd had an argument and she had left to go out with friends. He later messaged her, apologising for the row, asking if he could pick her up. She told the Irish Times that when she got in his car, Creswell purposefully swerved right, ensuring her phone flew out of her hands, telling her she wouldn't be needing it. Abigail added: 'Out of nowhere he grabbed the back of my head, he hit my head off the window, off the dashboard. I was like, curled up, and he just hit me over my body, over and over and over.' She said that she'd previously thought she would defend herself if attacked, but that a 'crazy instinct' took over, and knowing that she couldn't win a physical fight with him, she would do anything to try and calm him down. Creswell eventually started apologising, saying he loved her - which Abigail described as an 'unbelievable' relief, and 'like oxygen'. His apologies took away the pain instantly, she said - until the next time he would attack her. Only when Creswell threatened to dump her in a bath of bleach – which could end her riding career – did Abi pluck up the courage to leave. She explained this by saying that the only thing she wanted more than him was to ride horses, so she escaped and used a pay phone to call Nuala for help. Creswell was subsequently charged with a series of offences, among them false imprisonment, kidnapping and threats to kill, all of which he denied. But in 2010, Creswell finally pleaded guilty to common assault and ABH and was jailed for six months. According to Nuala: 'Johnny's version of events was that he was Abi's saviour, that she was mentally unstable and that she would sit in the car and punch herself in the face.' She added that Creswell tried to flirt with her and another female officer as they questioned him. Although he had faced some punishment for his crimes, when Creswell was freed, he emerged to a hero's welcome, greeted by a party attended by 30 friends, most of whom believed that Abi had made up her story to try to get compensation. Despite his abusive and violent behaviour, Abigail says she was conflicted after leaving the relationship, telling the Irish Times she questioned whether she had done the wrong thing. She told the outlet that she was 'filled with so much fear. So much self-loathing' after extricating herself from Creswell. She described feeling 'so alone', and believing all the bad things her abuser had said about her. 'I remember at that point just feeling so lost. The anxiety – constant, absolutely crippling anxiety, because you had this person, who you loved, who has stripped you away completely. And now you are alone.' A decade after the abusive relationship with Abigail, Creswell would go on to commit an even more heinous crime - raping and murdering Katie Simpson, the 21-year-old sister of his then-girlfriend - before claiming she had taken her own life and that he had tried to save her. According to Abigail, after leaving jail, Creswell 'just picked up where he left off'. He was soon in a relationship with Christina Simpson, one of six siblings from Tynan with whom he went on to have two children. However, unbeknownst to anyone, while in a relationship with Christina, Creswell was simultaneously grooming her younger sister, Katie, who was just nine when she first met him. 'He controlled and coerced Katie since she was a child,' Detective Sergeant James Brannigan, the officer instrumental in bringing Creswell to justice, told a court hearing. No one knows when his relationship with Katie became sexual, although some locals noticed that the young horsewoman seemed terrified of Creswell hearing suggestions that she might get a boyfriend. 'Don't go saying anything like that in front of Johnny,' a family friend, Chris Faloon, recalls Katie pleading with him after he suggested another showjumper might be keen on her. Nonetheless, a few weeks before she died, Katie had embarked on a relationship with a showjumper called Shane McCloskey, who is not named in the documentary but was identified by the Mail last year. The extent of her fear of Creswell was exposed in a frantic exchange of messages with McCloskey, in which she begged him to lie about the fact they had spent the previous night together if Creswell got in touch. 'He'll kill me,' she wrote. And indeed, after finding out, Creswell viciously beat and raped Katie in a violent rage, before calling the ambulance service to say he had returned from dropping off his children at his mother's house to find Katie hanging from the banister of the family home. He insisted on attempting to take her directly to Altnagelvin Hospital in his car to avoid paramedics visiting the house. At Katie's bedside, he behaved as though distraught, shaking and weeping. But not everyone believed Creswell's story, with some nurses noting the bruises on her body. DS Brannigan described the injuries on Katie's body as 'shocking', adding: 'Her hands were like boxing gloves, they were that swollen and bruised. There were marks on her legs, on her inner thigh, there was a massive bruise on her shoulder, a small cut to her lip and bruises on her arms.' It was not just Creswell who was trying to protect himself from accusations that he was responsible: it emerged that he was engaged in a number of sexual relationships with other women, including Katie, and three of those women lied to try to cover up for him. One of them, Rose de Montmorency-Wright, 22, had lived with Katie, Creswell and Christina, and had helped carry Katie's coffin at her funeral. The others were Jill Robinson and Hayley Robb, those friends of Katie's who also loved riding and were part of the her horse set. Creswell had put about a story that Katie had fallen while riding the day before the attack to try and explain away her injuries - a story supported by Jill and Hayley. DS Brannigan remained unconvinced, but by the time Katie died six days later, having never regained consciousness, Creswell had managed to create the narrative that Katie had taken her own life, and local police seemed uninterested in investigating. According to journalist Tanya Fowles, who knew Katie and was suspicious about her death, when she rang police to alert them to Creswell's previous convictions for violence, a Derry police officer accused her of being a 'curtain twitcher'. DS Brannigan, who worked in County Armagh but had been contacted by Fowles to see if he could help, recalls how he was similarly stonewalled, with Derry detectives telling him Katie had tried to take her own life twice. As he later discovered, they had mistakenly logged two suicide 'attempts' – the first when she arrived in hospital and the second when she died from her injuries. It would take six months of dogged work by Brannigan – and questions from Katie's relatives – for Derry police to finally open an investigation. Internal swabs taken during the post mortem, which previously had not been examined, came back showing Creswell's semen - providing police with enough evidence to arrest him. He tried to lie his way out of the situation, claiming he had been in a relationship with Katie since she was 17 and that they'd had sex several times the night before she'd gone to hospital. But he proved that his story couldn't be true when he drew a diagram to show police how he had found Katie, describing her as 'kissing the wood' - by which, DS Brannigan explained, Creswell meant Katie was facing the inside bannister from which she was hanging. The length of the strap she had purportedly hung herself with was not long enough for her to be in this position, detectives discovered when revisiting the scene. Brannigan described this as a 'eureka moment', adding: 'We could see Katie did not die this way.' On March 6 2021, Creswell was charged with Katie's murder – the first of what would prove to be several criminal charges in relation to her death. In the following weeks, the extent to which the three women had tried to help cover up the crime emerged. CCTV footage showed Hayley Robb following Creswell's car home from hospital before entering his home then leaving with a bag and placing it in the boot of her own vehicle. She subsequently admitted that as Katie lay dying, she and Robinson had taken Creswell's clothes to a launderette. Robb had also cleaned up traces of blood in the house. Rose de Montmorency-Wright was subsequently arrested in England and brought back to Northern Ireland for questioning. Brannigan says: 'She admitted to us "Yeah. He told me he'd beaten Katie". And I said "Why didn't you tell us?". She said she believed Katie had taken her own life and didn't believe it was relevant. I pushed her on it, but she asked to speak to a solicitor and when she came back she wouldn't say anything.' She subsequently pleaded guilty to withholding information, and received an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. Jill Robinson received a 16-month suspended sentence for perverting the course of justice, and Robb two years, suspended for two years, for withholding information and perverting the course of justice. Katie's sister Christina, whom police also believed was subject to coercive control by Creswell, was not prosecuted. Loyal to the end, Jill Robinson, who visited Creswell in prison when he was on remand, confides that she felt she had 'let Johnny down' by telling the truth. It subsequently emerged he was facing a catalogue of allegations from more than a dozen other women, among them a teenage girl who had spoken to police about being abused by Creswell. Sadly, Creswell would never face justice for his actions: at 9am on April 24, 2024, one day after the prosecution had outlined their case at his trial, his body was found at his home. Speaking now about her experience with Creswell, Abigail Lyle credits Nuala Lappin with saving her life, telling the Irish Times the domestic violence police officer's advice is 'probably why I am here today'. Abigail added that Nuala was the 'only person' who understood why it was so difficult for her to leave, supporting her until she was ready. When the Olympian heard Creswell had been arrested for Katie's murder 11 years after she'd left him, she said she was not surprised, but was devastated, noting that she'd always felt he was capable of that kind of crime. Abigail also shared advice for those concerned about someone they know who is in an abusive relationship, recommending they let that person know they are there for them, and don't judge them. And for those in this kind of relationship, she encourages them to reach out for help, and know they are not alone - and that there is 'an amazing life' waiting for them on the other side.
