Debate contribution: Katie Simpson Review

Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on 5 May 2026.

MLA

Mrs Naomi Long

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

5 May 2026

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

Katie Simpson Review

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5524416

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. We all know the name "Katie Simpson". Regrettably, we do so because of her senseless, untimely and tragic death. We also know the name "Jonathan Creswell", a convicted abuser and the man charged with Katie's rape and murder, who was found dead at home on the second day of his criminal trial. Moreover, we know that many individuals raised concerns about the circumstances surrounding Katie's death and the investigation that followed.??I thank all those individuals for their moral integrity, their bravery in coming forward?and their persistence. They fought to?give?Katie a voice. As a society, we owe them a debt of gratitude. With your permission, Mr Deputy Speaker, I will make a statement on the publication of the report of the independent review that I commissioned into Katie's death. I commissioned the review to seek to understand what can be done at the earliest stages to identify and manage serious offenders and to identify and protect potential victims. The independent review was undertaken by Dr Jan Melia, and I thank and commend Dr Melia for the integrity, sensitivity and thoroughness that she brought to the work. I also pay tribute to Katie's family. Their lives changed irrevocably when Katie died. We cannot imagine the pain or magnitude of their loss, but we witnessed their courage and determination to seek answers to ensure that Katie's death was not in vain. Before I continue, I ask Members to pause and remember Katie: a beautiful, talented and innocent young woman whose memory lives on among those who knew and loved her.

I publish the report today in the alarming knowledge that, since 2020, 30 women have been violently killed in Northern Ireland. Murder is the ultimate manifestation of domestic and sexual violence and abuse. All abuse is reprehensible, but it is pervasive in all its forms and across all walks of life in Northern Ireland. We must therefore be relentless in our condemnation of that behaviour, and we must support victims by giving them the protection that they need to live safely and without fear. As politicians, our responsibility is to compel, facilitate and deliver tangible change. Too often, in reviews such as this, the personal story can be overshadowed by the necessary focus on external systems and procedures. However, Dr Melia's report very much keeps Katie and her family front and centre. It was a bespoke review without the legislative underpinning of a domestic homicide review or a public protection arrangements Northern Ireland (PPANI) serious case review. However, my Department and, indeed, the Executive are committed to tackling abuse and ending violence against women and girls (EVAWG). As such,?I had to find a way to look into this case for Katie's sake and to ensure that systems change, attitudes change and we all get better at preventing harm, protecting the vulnerable and avoiding the circumstances that led to Katie's untimely death. At the outset of the work, I received a commitment to fully cooperate with the independent reviewer from the senior leaders of a range of relevant organisations. I am grateful to them for their active participation and candour throughout. With the endorsement of Katie's family, the report is published today in its entirety. I urge everyone to take the time to read it and to reflect on the missed opportunities, both for Katie and the agencies that encountered her and her abuser over many years. It makes for uncomfortable reading, but that transparency is vital. I ask Members and the general public to consider whether anything in the report resonates with their lives or the lives of people they know. If the answer is yes, please take that first step and reach out to someone you trust and can talk to. If you do not have that trusted person, then please make contact with professional services and organisations. In anticipation that the publication of the report may trigger distress for victims and survivors, I have asked my Department to engage proactively with support services to ensure that they are prepared for an increase in requests for help. Anyone in immediate danger should always contact the police, without delay. The message that I hear often from victims’ representatives is that we must not shy away from difficult conversations. That is a simple but critically important point. For too long, abuse has been allowed to thrive in the shadows that are created by fear, silence, stigma and control. We need to shine a light into those shadows. We need to remove the stigma, and we need to speak openly and honestly about abuse. Avoiding those conversations does not protect victims: it entrenches harm. The lives of Katie's family and those who loved her have been tainted and irreversibly impacted on by what happened. The only way that we can truly pay tribute to Katie’s memory is to learn the lessons from the circumstances that led to and, ultimately, resulted in Katie's untimely death. The only good that can possibly come from this tragic loss is if others are better protected from such harm in the future. I turn now to the report itself. Dr Melia sets out, in stark and uncompromising detail, what went wrong. The review, however, is not about focusing on individual practices or apportioning blame. Its fundamental purpose is to instigate collective, system-wide learning and to implement change. I also welcome the fact that the review’s report will help inform the ongoing Coroner’s Court inquest into Katie's death. There are 16 detailed recommendations codified in a proposed action plan. In testament to Katie’s memory and her family, we must give that action plan our undivided attention without delay. I am therefore pleased to announce that Dr Melia will coordinate and chair an implementation group. That will provide much-needed continuity, which I welcome. I also hope that it provides assurance to Katie's family and friends that the action plan will be actioned. I call on the relevant agencies and organisations to fully support and cooperate with Dr Melia in that process. The majority of the 16 recommendations are policing-focused, and the PSNI has made a number of recommendations as part of the review. Lessons from Katie's death, however, are not confined to the criminal justice arena, so there is no hierarchy of importance. I wish to emphasise the six critical areas that Dr Melia identified for intervention. There is much room for improvement. Katie’s death was concealed and staged as suicide, and it is abundantly clear that investigative practices and mindsets must change. In the Chamber today, I will highlight just some of Dr Melia’s detailed recommendations. In policing, coercive control must be recognised as a serious and potentially lethal factor. Patterns of behaviour, not isolated incidents, must drive assessments of risk. The review provides a clear framework, including six new indicators of concealed homicide, which should be embedded across sudden death investigations and specialist training. There, too, is a clear need to develop mandatory use of trauma-informed, victim-centred investigative models. Information about Katie was missing from the case. Suspicious death and suicide investigations should therefore include comprehensive victim profiling. Relatedly, we must seek to combat cognitive bias and confirmation bias. Police officers need to be fully trained to recognise and challenge gendered stereotypes or victim-blaming narratives. A lack of trust in victims and poor investigations empower perpetrators such as Jonathan Creswell. That also extends to forensic investigation standards in all sudden or unexplained deaths. Forensic protocols should reflect trauma-informed and gender-sensitive practices and require pathologists to consider coercive control and staged suicide as part of their analysis. The absence of specialist domestic abuse input at the earliest stages of Katie’s investigation was also a critical failing. The review is clear: specialist domestic abuse officers must be involved from day one wherever there is any history of violence within a family. We must ensure that expertise is shared, not siloed. Police team coordination and case ownership must also improve. In Katie’s case, the investigation was passed between departments without a designated lead, causing confusion and delays. That lack of ownership contributed to missed opportunities and a failure to act on known risks. In her recommendations, Dr Melia also sets out that, in cases involving allegations of violence, coercive control or intimate partner abuse, bail conditions must focus on the safety of victims and their families. It is a matter for policing and the judiciary as to the granting and setting of bail conditions. However, I implore decision-makers to recognise the importance of incorporating coercive control risk indicators and including victim/family consultation when making bail decisions. I also welcome the recommendation relating to risk assessment in PPANI, specifically the need for recognising coercive control as a continuing risk even in the absence of a current relationship. I mentioned earlier that the lessons from Katie’s case also extend beyond the sphere of criminal justice. We are all aware of the sustained pressure on our emergency departments, but recommendation 14 is a critical learning point, and that is to:

"Ensure that all emergency department (A&E) attendances involving physical injury prompt safeguarding considerations, particularly where domestic abuse is suspected or could be a contributing factor, or where there are multiple presentations."

The equestrian industry was also central to Katie’s young life. Recommendation 16 makes clear the need to:

"Introduce mandatory safeguarding policies, training, and vetting across all equestrian facilities, including unaffiliated stables."

It is of great concern to me that, as I stand in the Chamber today, there may be other young girls or women unknowingly vulnerable or already subject to predatory and secretive abuse. That brings me to reflect on a final recommendation, perhaps most fundamental of all, which is to develop and broaden Northern Ireland-wide campaigns on coercive control to include suicide and homicide. It is absolutely imperative that we educate all our citizens on coercive control, in all its forms and potency. I conclude the statement today with a clear message. My Department and our partners will act on the recommendations contained in Dr Melia’s report and ensure that lessons are not simply learned but embedded in practice. I do not underestimate the scale of the task. However, the work will be led by Dr Melia, and, therefore, I can confidently say that it will be in very capable hands. I must also take this opportunity to remind Members of the domestic and sexual abuse strategy 2024-2031, led by my Department and the Department of Health. The initial three-year action plan contains 56 actions, which is a resounding reminder of how much work is yet to be done.

The Executive's strategy on ending violence against women and girls has now entered its second delivery phase. Both strategies quite rightly demand that the Executive work collaboratively and tenaciously to deliver on those many commitments. We must do so in Katie’s memory. We must do so in memory of all victims before and after Katie’s death. We must do so to reduce harm and save lives. I commend the report to the Assembly.

I pay tribute to the family of Katie Simpson and to the many people, friends and colleagues who loved her and have campaigned for justice on her behalf. The Member is right to pay tribute to them at the beginning of this. It is important that the report is recognised for what it is. I was clear when I initiated it that it would not hold individuals to account. The Member will be aware that there is still an ongoing inquest, and the report does not cut across that. Police Ombudsman investigations also remain open at this time. It is important that, before we discuss issues around direct accountability, we allow those processes to conclude, but I agree with the Member in principle that those who failed Katie and, indeed, other victims should be held accountable for those failures.

I thank the Member for his question. Of course, he is correct that PPANI did not have oversight of the case and that MARAC responses had not been triggered. Dr Melia's review identified that missed opportunity to bring Creswell into PPANI, and that is critical learning for everyone who is involved. Practitioners in the public protection agencies have to use their professional judgement to identify dangerous individuals and ensure that they are referred at the appropriate points. Key agencies have committed to working with Dr Melia to implement the findings of her report and ensure that dangerous offenders are referred to PPANI in the future. My Department does not have an operational role in the day-to-day delivery of those arrangements, but we have responsibility for the overall statutory framework and associated guidance. I have already commissioned my officials to review the guidance to ensure that it continues to provide a robust and consistent framework for safeguarding and maintaining public protection so that people can have confidence that those referrals will be made and that there is clarity for all involved as to how and when to do so.

I thank the Member for her question. We have corresponded on the matter for some time. There are two aspects to that, the first being that coerced suicide is already against the law. Encouraging or enabling someone to take their own life is a criminal offence. That is the first thing to say. The more challenging part of it is recognition that the person responsible for that is fully responsible for the suicide. For example, the inclusion of suicide in the sphere of domestic homicide reviews, as is happening now and is starting to be rolled out in England and Wales, is something that we are looking at. The problem can be in identifying a causal link that is beyond challenge. Whilst there may be learning from those cases, holding someone legally accountable, beyond reasonable doubt, for the death of another person who has died by suicide can be incredibly complex. In this case, however, the more pressing part is for people not to accept the cognitive bias, when they are told that someone has taken their own life, and to simply accept that at face value or not to continue to collect the forensic evidence that would be necessary either to confirm the death as a suicide or, indeed, to confirm that the death was not a suicide. That is the learning that comes from the report today. The issue of coerced suicide, particularly in domestic settings, is one that weighs very heavily on me, because I am aware of the impact that it can have on individuals. There is, as I said, already an offence of coercing or contributing to someone taking their own life. However, proving beyond reasonable doubt that that is the cause is the biggest challenge that we face.

2,454 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:35 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification