Yet another PSNI officer has retired while under investigation into the mishandling of the Jonathan Creswell case, pushing the total who have quit up to five.
While confirming the latest retirement, which came just weeks after two other officers did likewise, the PSNI did not answer all enquiries put to them.
The conduct of numerous officers is under scrutiny when dealing with Creswell who came very close to getting away with murdering showjumper Katie Simpson, whose death was treated as suicide, despite the repeated flagging of his past convictions to police.
However even when a murder inquiry was finally launched by a different policing team, problems continued with the case.
Creswell claimed he rescued Katie – younger sister of his partner Christina Simpson – from a hanging attempt, before placing her, unresponsive, into her own car and setting off to hospital.
He had in fact subjected her to merciless six hour interrogation the previous night over her new relationship, while holding her captive in his car drove over the Border and back, stopping at varying locations where there was severe physical assault and rape.
Creswell then brought her to his home shortly after midnight on 3 August 2020 and kept her in a bedroom.
While the others in the house, including his two very young children slept nearby, Creswell’s abuse of Katie persisted.
At some point between arriving home and taking the children to his mother’s next morning, he strangled Katie then staged a scene, making it appear she had taken her life in a manner indicating her neck had been constricted.
Despite glaring inconsistencies the PSNI took all information from Creswell, even though his past conduct was being repeatedly flagged as Katie lay fighting for her life in hospital.
The full facts of what really happened remain unknown and hopes of establishing them were dashed when Creswell took his own life 24 hours into his trial last year.
But the convictions weren’t the only red flags. There were striking similarities to the widely-known attack on his previous partner Abi Lyle in 2009, for which he was jailed for six months.
She too was subjected to terrifying, frenzied abuse triggered by intense jealousy, before being strangled until she passed out.
Unlike Abi however, Katie did not revive.
Regardless of highlighting Creswell’s propensity for strangulation, ferocious jealousy and incandescent rage, police simply refused to listen.
This was apparently due in part to the previous convictions mysteriously not showing on his record.
There was also obvious ambivalence, as when later quizzed a senior officer contended, “Creswell’s previous convictions or being a bad boy does not make him a murderer and evidence was required”.
This is inaccurate as the threshold is reasonable suspicion, with evidence then gathered through investigation.
Other information also strangely vanished from the case file, only to resurface following significant challenge.
The Police Ombudsman initially launched an investigation in 2021 after Creswell’s arrest and while completed May 2023, it could not be released until the trial proceedings concluded.
Named Operation Gambart the details were partially made known in November 2024 when it was revealed two officers had retired while under investigation.
Much detail remains withheld due to the three new complaints submitted, one of which relates to the original investigation and according to the Ombudsman, “may potentially involve criminal misconduct.”
Another centres on failures of duty and professional conduct in the second investigation while the third, brought by a former victim of Creswell was closed last year but reopened after information disputing both PSNI claims and the Ombudsman’s original findings emerged.
Last month the PSNI confirmed two officers had retired while under investigation in the new complaints coupled with two from the original complaint.
Now the number has climbed to five.
The PSNI were asked how many officers have retired or applied to retire while under investigation and of these how many where/are on sick-leave?
Also how many are suspended: have been removed from previous duties or are on sick-leave, since notified of investigation?
A spokesperson confirmed three officers have now retired and none have been suspended or repositioned.
The PSNI were asked to respond to the other enquiries but there has been nothing further at the time publishing.
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