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 5524465

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The first thing that I can commit to is to ensuring that every leader in every part of the justice system has a copy of the report and is able to reflect on its content. The Member makes the valid point that people are often referred to as "charming" or that they seemed to be reliable or trustworthy or an upstanding member of the community. I am tired of hearing people wax lyrical about abusers. It does not matter how they present to the public. It does not matter how they present to the people around them in their church or in their golf club or wherever it might be. What matters is what they do at home with the people they abuse, and that is the only thing that should matter. The fact that somebody can present themselves as a Jekyll and Hyde character should not be to their advantage. Abusers know how to present themselves. They know how to behave. They know how to get away with what other people would not get away with. They are predatory individuals. As you know, I have serious concerns about the use of things such as good character references in those categories of cases because we know that good character, as seen by those outside, means nothing in the context of the relationship that they have used to abuse another individual. Therefore, to me, they are not worth the paper they are written on. We need to be much clearer about where the law sits, and the Member will know that I am looking at that.

The content of the Criminal Justice (Sentencing etc) Bill and the victims and witnesses Bill at this stage in the mandate is probably fairly tightly controlled. Any change to wider bail legislation would require significant policy development. It would also require us to look carefully at the balance of responsibilities and independence of the judiciary. However, that does not preclude what is in this report being implemented today. The recommendations in the report regarding consideration of the impact on victims and families in cases where coercive control is part of the mix can be implemented by any judge sitting today making a decision about bail. Bail can be resisted by the Public Prosecution Service or the PSNI on the basis of their assessment of the risk to the safety of the victim and their family. With or without legislation, therefore, that balance can already be considered. I encourage all involved in the justice system to read the report, read what is recommended and implement it as of today so that we do not end up with a further situation where a young woman not only loses her life but is robbed of the right to justice as a result of decisions taken. The Member is correct: this will be a painful day for Katie's family and friends. As I said, the report is a difficult read, and they are aware of its contents. I thank them for two things. First, I thank them for their dedication and commitment to ensuring that Katie would get some measure of justice and accountability. Secondly, I thank them for allowing the report, unusually, to be produced in full rather than simply be a kind of executive summary. The fullness of the report and the detail that is in it really matter. I hope that they will see a step change in how we deal with such cases and that, if nothing else, that will be a legacy that Katie will have left behind for other young women who follow in her footsteps.

A lot of things can change immediately. For example, I have outlined issues around the consideration of bail. That is simply a matter for the courts to consider. There is a plethora of issues that the courts can consider. Some changes have already occurred. A table at the end of the report shows the recommendations. Some have commenced, some are in progress and some are yet to be progressed, so there are opportunities even now with changes that have already happened. The PSNI has identified and embedded learning in its death investigation manual, which I referred to earlier, and extra training has been mandated in relation to domestic abuse and coercive control, which is hugely important. Aspects of the EVAWG strategy, domestic and sexual abuse strategy and so on have been driven by operational learning predating publication of the report but linked to it. For me, whilst some areas will continue to develop over time, much in the report can be implemented straight away if there is the will to do so. With regard to cooperation to date with Dr Melia, there has been a willingness by all who were involved to engage with the report fulsomely and openly and to try to make the changes necessary to ensure that there is no repeat of what happened in that case.

I do not have those operational figures to hand. The number has changed over time in that some have been investigated and discharged as genuine suicides, whilst others have been investigated and reopened as having, potentially, more sinister motivations. However, the report shines a light on the fact that simply because something is presented as suicide, particularly by the person's partner or by somebody in a close relationship, it should not be taken for granted that what is being said and presented represents the true facts of the case.

There has to be a presumption, until it can be proven to be a suicide, that there could be sinister motives. That is really important in terms of the professional curiosity that the Chief Constable spoke of in his response to some of these cases. It is important that all the evidence is gathered and that everything is handled in the way that you would handle a homicide until such times as you are absolutely certain that it is not one. It is clear from this report that evidential opportunities were lost as a result of the acceptance at face value of what was told to officers about the death of Katie Simpson. Had that not happened, perhaps what had actually happened would have been clearer sooner.

Real issues have been highlighted. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to meet with Katie's family and discuss some of their concerns, particularly around safeguarding in the equestrian environment. Katie's death has exposed systemic safeguarding failures across Northern Ireland's equestrian sector. Many facilities, particularly unaffiliated yards and freelance operations, continue to operate without regulation, oversight or basic safeguarding protections. Dr Melia recommends that a phased, multi-agency approach is urgently needed, beginning with practical steps and building towards mandatory vetting, cultural reform and sector-wide accountability. That is obviously not just an issue for the equestrian sector. We have to be alive to the potential for abuse of position and exploitation of children and vulnerable adults across all walks of life, whether those vulnerable adults are in a workplace or conducting a hobby or whether it crosses the line between the two, as so often is the case when it comes to equestrian pursuits. We need to look beyond the equestrian sector, though it is very important in Katie's case. We need to look to other areas where you have adults and young people mixing with differential power narratives between them and to how we ensure that those young people are adequately and properly safeguarded at all times from the abuse of power and trust.

The Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021 significantly strengthened protections for victims of domestic abuse, particularly when it comes to coercive control. It recognised that serious harm can be caused by not only physical violence but psychological, emotional, coercive and controlling behaviours. Dr Melia has made recommendations for further training for staff to identify indicators of coercive control and respond to them correctly. She calls for that to be embedded in decision-making during investigations, at bail hearings and in risk assessment and management. It also calls on multi-agency management of offenders under PPANI to ensure that coercive control is recognised as a continuing risk, even in the absence of a current relationship. The fact that someone has ended the relationship does not necessarily mean that the coercive controlling behaviour has ended, and it is important that people recognise the long tail that that can have on someone's life. Furthermore, and importantly, the review recommends that we have to strengthen and broaden public awareness initiatives across Northern Ireland when it comes to coercive control. Those campaigns should also address and challenge victim-blaming attitudes. Sadly, we have heard some of those victim-blaming attitudes in our media, even over the past weekend. We need to foster better public understanding of abuse and its serious consequences and reach the public where they are, whether that is at home, in work, medical settings or education, to ensure that we recognise that coercive control is a serious issue and does serious harm. It is no less harmful than physical violence; indeed, it has often led to some of the most serious cases of physical violence and homicide that we have seen.

First, I thank the Member for being proactively engaged in the matter. The report is there to be read, and there is no suggestion in it that that is a significant concern. However, the Member will be aware that much media attention and much discussion have surrounded the death of Katie Simpson. Many views have been expressed about an unwillingness to confront what was a very serious situation. That is what I was referring to when I spoke about those who seemed unwilling to look. There is a tendency in all of us, when we take a position on something, to not want to go back and rethink that position. It is much easier to hope that someone else has got it wrong than to accept that perhaps we have got it wrong. If that is the prevailing culture in organisations, particularly hierarchical ones, it can be incredibly dangerous. Just because you are more senior does not mean that you have seen the thing that could be key in an investigation. It is often someone who is more junior and much closer to the issue who might have witnessed, or seen or felt uneasy about, something that really matters. None of us in any walk of life should be so arrogant as to think that we cannot learn from others and should not listen to and take seriously the complaints when they are raised. One of the lessons from what surrounded Katie Simpson's death is about the number of people who had to raise concerns before their voices were heard. Not every victim will have so many people who are so committed to fighting their case, and people's getting justice cannot be reliant on that.

1,817 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:36 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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