My ‘cult-like’ ex-lover raped & murdered his sister-in-law, 21, then convinced me to cover it up – the guilt haunts me
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WHEN Katie Simpson’s loved ones heard she’d tried to take her own life, they were lost for words.
For the fearless showjumper – who dreamt of one day buying her own horse – had never shown signs of depression.
Even amongst the grief, they had nothing but praise for the charismatic hero who had tried to save her.
Jonathan Creswell – the long-term partner of Katie’s sister Christina, whom he had two kids with – had, it appeared, done all he could to keep Katie alive.
The jockey-turned-trainer, known as Johnny, told police that on August 3, 2020, he’d arrived at the home they shared in Lettershandoney, County Derry, Northern Ireland.
After opening the front door, he saw, to his horror, Katie hanging from the banister.
He then told them he’d cut her down and rushed to her car to get her to hospital, while also calling emergency services.
Weeping, he said he’d relentlessly performed CPR on her by the roadside, moments before an ambulance came to take over.
Yet it would later become apparent that his version of events were far from the truth.
In fact, Creswell – who ran a local stable yard in Derry with Christina and Katie – was brimming with dark secrets.
When Katie, who was just 21, died in hospital six days later, he seemed as grief-stricken as her loved ones.
“Johnny and Christina were absolutely devastated. There’s no words to describe how inconsolable they were,” pal Jill Robinson, 43, says in a new Sky documentary, called Death Of A Showjumper.
At Katie’s funeral, Creswell helped carry her coffin.
But one mourner watching on – a family friend and journalist called Tanya Fowles – couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
She’d covered a court case, ten years previously, in which Creswell had viciously attacked and tried to kill his then partner, Abi Lyle.
The details of that abuse are laid bare in the three-part series – which tells the story of Katie’s death and the subsequent police investigation, through interviews with family, friends and investigators.
In it, Abi, now 40 and a successful Olympian who competed for Ireland in Paris last year, reveals how she’d met Creswell at a Belfast horse show in 2008, 12 years before Katie’s death.
Then 23, she was completely bowled over by his charm and natural talent for showjumping.
But it wasn’t long before he started rifling through Abi’s phone, accusing her of cheating and becoming violent.
Content retrieved from: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/35979929/showjumper-murder-sister-boyfriend-coverup/.
