Murder victim Katie Simpson
Stormont’s Justice Minister published the terms of reference for an independent review on Friday and confirmed Jan Melia will take the lead.
Ms Melia, who chaired the Domestic Homicide Review, has over three decades of experience working with victims and survivors of abuse in England, Scotland and across the island of the Ireland.
Naomi Long said her thoughts “are very much with the family of Katie Simpson indeed, all of Jonathan Creswell’s victims” as she revealed further details of the bespoke review.
“Tragically we cannot turn back the hands of time but what we can do is learn lessons from the past so that they are not repeated in the future,” she said.
“Katie’s family will very much be at the centre of this review, which is not about apportioning blame to any organisation – but constructive engagement and a learning-based approach. It is crucial the focus is on collective, system-wide learning.”
The 21-year-old woman died in hospital six days after an incident occurred at a Co Londonderry property in 2020.
Creswell was charged with Ms Simpon’s rape and murder a year later but took his own life one day into the trial.
The 36-year-old, who was in a relationship with Ms Simpon’s sister, had initially led the PSNI to believe he found the showjumper trying to kill herself.
Jonathan Cresswell accused of the murder of Katie Cresswell
A report by the Police Ombudsman into the handling of Ms Simpson’s death later found that the investigation was “flawed and failed her family.”
The report also concluded that no thorough searches or forensic examinations were conducted despite police being aware of Creswell’s previous convictions against his former partner in the early stages of the investigation.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher later said “it is abundantly clear we got things wrong from the beginning” and “huge lessons” were to be learned from it.
Ms Long has sought the full support of the PSNI, Probation Board (PBNI), Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) and the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WH&SCT) for the review.
