Katie’s murder accused is found dead..
Judge dismisses jury after body of man charged with killing discovered at home
A HORSE trainer who went on trial this week accused of murder was found dead yesterday.
Prosecutor Sam Magee KC told Coleraine Crown Court: “Jonathan Creswell was found deceased at his home this morning.”
Det Chief Inspector Mark Gibson was called to the witness box and said: “At 9am, police in Derry confirmed a male had been found deceased.
“Life was pronounced extinct 20 minutes later and. A family member confirmed it was Jonathan Creswell.”
The death is not being treated as suspicious and the coroner has been informed.
Judge Neil Rafferty told the jury that under these circumstances they are discharged as the trial process in terms of Creswell has concluded.
Creswell, 36, had been facing trial for murdering Katie Simpson who died in hospital on August 9, 2020. He was also accused of raping the 21-year-old showjumper. Meanwhile, sentencing of three women all connected to Creswell through the equestrian industry is expected to be brought forward.
Hayley Robb, 30, from Weavers Meadow, Banbridge, Co Down, admitted withholding information between August 2, 2020 and June 26, 2021, while knowing Katie had sustained injuries and believing she may have been murdered. She also pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice by cleaning blood in Creswell’s home on August 3, 2020 and washing his clothes. Jill Robinson, 42, from Blackfort Road, Omagh, Co Tyrone, admitted perverting the course of justice by washing Creswell’s clothes on August 3, 2020.
Rose de Montmorency-wright, 22, of Craigantlet Road, Newtownards, Co Down, admitted withholding information between October 9, 2020 and October 13, 2021, knowing Creswell had allegedly assaulted Katie, and believing
Police confirmed a male had been found deceased. Family confirmed it was Creswell
DET CHIEF INSPECTOR MARK GIBSON, COLERAINE CROWN COURT
murder may have been committed.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Sam Magee KC told the court: “It is the prosecution case the defendant raped Katie. He murdered her.
“He made efforts to cover up what he had done by trying to make her death look like a suicide. In the hours leading up to death he was with Katie. He was the last person to see her alive.
“It was a calculating and deceitful episode. He strangled her and created a fiction, pretending to others he found Katie hanging in a stairwell.
“He pretended to medical staff that she had taken her own life.
“He pretended to be innocent having discovered the lifeless body of this unfortunate individual or whose life was ebbing away.
“We say he was the individual who did an act of violent rage which took her life at the age of just 21.”
Following this, said Mr Magee, “the defendant then lied, and lied and lied to cover his tracks and mislead those trying to get to the bottom of what happened”.