The dark and sinister life of Jonathan Creswell

Intro so Stephen Jonathan Creswell makes for an unlikely bad guy really uh you know he doesn't look the part I remember when he first started appearing in the Sunday world the kind of chubby looking Posh equestrian background but despite all of that um his evil Deeds are absolutely Beyond question so just tell us a bit about about Jonathan Creswell and what he has become infamous for I suppose well I mean it's funny I mean people are aware of what he's famous for now obviously is is the murder trial and a rape trial of Katy Simpson Jonathan was a you know famous show jumper show jump for Ireland he originated from Grace deel um but I I I was actually writing about this guy back in 2009 we were covering court cases when he first appeared for a a a horrendous abuse case of a previous girlfriend um who's since made public called Abby ly um so I mean I was aware of him all those years ago when when this came up a couple of years ago I knew it was going to be a huge story because uh the whole horse horsey angle to it that I knew that he had so many links to so many women he'd been accused of so many things and been getting away with it for years uh and nobody could understand why but I don't know if any of us M really expected uh this to happen yeah because of course Stephen what did happen was he was ultimately charged with the murder and rape of Katie Simpson um and at a former a former lover um and I mean even that you could you could argue even the police didn't expect it because initially her debt was judged to be as a result of suicide and no charges were bought which is also kind of another separate Scandal I suppose up for the police up the north but really what happened on the on the night we we now know uh on the night she died well well we well we know but the truth is we don't fully know what happened in there's about eight hours missing from when they in when he he basically Jonathan Crow was extremely jealous he'd find out that kitty had started a relationship with another man involved in the inquester industry who they knew um in the in the dairy area and uh she had spent the night with this guy and kitty was terrified of Jonathan Croswell who'd been controlling her since she was nine or 10 years old it was claimed in court um and uh Jonathan was going to give her a hiding basically for but one once he got hip off that she'd spent spent the night with another man which seems bizarre because Jonathan was in a relationship uh with a kitty Katy Sister Christina and had two children and they all lived in the same house but that aside Jonathan made sure he got Kitty on his own the night before she died or the before he killed her she didn't die for six she spent six days in the hospital um but she was effectively effectively killed her on on that night and in the early hours of that following morning um he uh picked her up after a show took her and a bundled her in a horse truck and drove her across the border assaulting her as he went uh and eventually they ended up at the house that they shared in courtess Meadows in uh in in in near near jaho and uh he uh we're not exactly sure how but we the court was told that he use some sort of rodlike instrument to beat her we think he probably strangled her um and uh I mean I think one of the court cases he admits that they stopped at one point while he was taking her back and forth across the border have sax on the Bonnet of his car now we now know that he was charged with ribbing Kitty so it's not clear exactly what part of Jonathan creswell's story is true and what isn't but what we know is he he caused her death in the most terrific um and cruel of cruel ways and Control over women obviously Stephen in the aftermath then um the police initially thought it was it was suicide that was reinvestigated then and then amazingly all these other women that that Jonathan Creswell despite the fact as you said he was a known domestic abuser and had had had that conviction uh previously he seemed to have this influence over a number of women within that horsey set to say the least and like he's an unlikely kind of uh you know sort of an unlikely sort of lario or whatever word you want to use but he did seem to have this amazing sort of control over a group of young women almost without exception I I I have seen so many um texts posts social media posts from women who are wishing them happy birthday and it's love you and these are many of them are former lovers who are happy birthday with love love hearts and the Adoration for him was and phenomenal and you're right when he looks certainly by the time he got to trial he you know he beef he beefed up he looked he looked dis sheveled and beaten um and uh he certainly wasn't I mean there are pictures of him in a in a in a tuxedo back when in his younger days when he looked more of the part you know going to Gala balls and such but um yeah nobody can really understand I he had so many women who were prepared and I mean the women all knew about each other and knew he was sleeping with other ones and he controlled them um I mean whenever in the uh in the cor had emerged in the in the briefing that we got a hold of it came out that his own uh partner Christina on the day that he killed uh Kitty she was able to she came upstairs and find looked in Katy's bedroom and saw Jonathan and bed with her and and it was almost as if this was just a just a run of the bill like there he is in bed with my sister it's a normal like this was a normal run of the de Mill thing one of the other sorry yes The aftermath yeah no I mean then in the aftermath of course after after Katie had died after she'd been taken to hospital then there was another series of of women who stepped in and at least helped dispose of his clothes those women have have come before the courts and and plad guilty and there's three women in particular and even if you hear their names it you know they're not they're they're those kind of double barrel equestrian names for one of a better description so these aren't your usual types of people to come before the courts I think it would be fair to say no no you have a a rose de mon morenzi right um who's a 22y old successful equestrian who um also lived with in in creswell's house um with Christina and K and and she admitted with holding information bying knowing that crell had assaulted ktie the night before and not telling the police you know when there was an investigation not telling the police that um one of the other women Haley Rob admitted withholding information pring the course of Justice she cleaned blood in the house um and then went and took his clothes so la D many miles away in FNA County teron uh to wash them um what was interesting with h Rob was when she was on the in the briefing said she was she was coming to meet Corell that day he was on the phone he kept her on the phone for deliberately she was at she told the police she was going to meet him on the on the impression that she was they were going to have sexual intercourse um and the third woman is a jelly Robinson who also helped uh by uh washing the clothes then they've all admitted that they were due to be sentenced today uh but they are going to be sentenced in the next couple of weeks Opening statements so obviously their case changes to to an extent because Jonathan Creswell he I think was was it the opening statements were made in his murder trial and his rape trial and then of course uh the next day we get the the news that that he he's died as a result of taking his own life and we did hear that opening statement I think it went right the way up till then uh before he he he passed away yes I think the the the prosecution managed to make their case of what they believe happened and and how how he had uh uh committed uh the murder of Katy um we didn't hear the opening statement from uh we don't know what his defense was going to be we don't know whether he was going to take the stand but we know what the prosecution had it and they and with now with the three women who had helped cover up or withhold information or pervert the course of Justice uh pleading guilty and at least one of them offering to give um evidence uh against Jonathan crestwell he was it was going to be a very difficult case for him to uh to win um yeah I mean I think the the The prosecutions case the prosecution described it clearly because one of Jonathan cross creswell's like he had to explain obviously uh Katie's injuries um it was I think he gave the excuse that she'd been trampled by a horse and various other kind of things that are unlikely to stand up and it was said it was described his his his actions were described as a calculating and deceitful episode he strangled her and created a fiction pretending to others that he found ktie hanging in a stairwell so obviously like that that even even that alone is you know obviously the the the grief and the guilt that goes with families when somebody takes their own life and even to put H Katie's death back on them like that it just shows this kind of uh uh I suppose narcissistic and and abusive temperament that he that he had and kind of hid in plain sight to a degree oh I mean and we know from speaking to um one of uh the other uh uh a witness who came forward who spoke to this on they were last week um I think it's Stacy Watling had said she had to come across Creswell shortly after the murder and he was in tears he was in bits about Katy taking her own life and how devastated he was I mean he played it really well to a certain extent he was you know very prominent in holding uh supporting suicide Char there was a number of suicide uh charity events held in Katie's name which he was you know promoting and all the while knowing that that's not how she had died is you know he narcissistic is certainly the word for him you know yeah I mean it's an The equestrian world it's a obviously an unusual story as as well as an horrific Story and there's very real victims but it's an unusual story and I wonder does it tell something about like a a a kind of closed World say the the equestrian world I'm not picking on equestrian in particular but some of those Clos Little Worlds where these people can really pray because again like we wrote again uh and some of a couple about a couple of Jonathan creswell's friends who were also in that equestrian World who've ended up in in in the Sunday world for all the wrong reasons basically for sex crimes and these were a couple of guys he was ping around with which is a significant number of people in in in that small little set I I think there's a bit of a you know if you remember the me to movement over in in Hollywood there's certainly there's something wrong or something with with the equestrian uh industry I'm sure 99% of for all very it's all very normal and people are there for the love of horses but there are a lot of young women who get involved in that industry and they they they are they are abused they're taken advantage of because they start working their way up you know mucking out you know stables and you know people have said to me where who work in the industry there's almost a among some of these young women that they almost expect to get some kind of abuse it's almost accepted or expected but they will be um targeted by you know uh dominant male men who will just use them because they want to get a foot up in the industry it's it's there's definitely something there because there's an awful lot of cases some of them going through the courts which we can't talk about but yeah we did cover two who who were convicted uh sex offenders um and they were horse trainers and jockeys El so on this Burial weekend Stephen we also have um you know Jonathan creswell's obviously being buried we saw that it was wasn't a a hero send off to say the least there was only a couple of people turned up and he's buried in a very low-key Cemetery or lowy service but he's also it's emerged this weekend as well um that even from Beyond the Grave he's sort of writing letters and refusing to take responsibility and trying to lay blame his victims once again yeah there a couple of strands we're looking at we are hearing and had it from a number of sources that uh uh he left a note um which has been described as it was so lengthy that was described as a mini uh biography or autobiography um and then rather than taking from what we understand rather than taking responsibility and issuing apologies he's actually gone the other way and is blaming all the women in his life for his downfall uh um and then and in some instances um implicating people and telling uh you know blaming people for what for kid's death and uh he's causing it's causing a lot of trouble even now he's dead even in the grave that he's in he has upset people because nobody thought he was going to be buried there they thought he'd be buried um in another Cemetery with other with relatives but he've been Buried buried there um in the cemetery in the water side and I know there is a lot of dis quiet for people who have uh relatives uh very close by to him when they come to tend their graves that they're having to be confronted by him and uh what he did um so there's there's a lot of disire about an unhappiness that he was put there at all and in in terms of the Investigation investigation um obviously the the fact that she was H was judged to be a suicide is a obvious police eror as we know now does that rumble on or is that come they is there come to a conclusion yes or oh no that that that rumbles on and on that's definitely not finished I mean when you look at the I mean look at the evidence that the police had at the time the the alarm Bells it's alarm even if you want to call it evidence but alarm Bell should have been ringing when when this guy appears you take claims to have taken Kitty down find her hanging taken her down and then carried her into the car and drove her to the hospital now when the police arrived halfway he he he stops off to try and give claims to give CPR but which he isn't doing they've be able to tell what he was actually doing was turning her phone on her her airplane mode back on because he turned her phone off he he taken control of her phone the day before so nobody could find her or contact her and she couldn't contact Conclusion anybody um yeah so that I mean that that obviously has been looked at is it by an by the utsman or or oh yeah oh no yes the umman I think there has already been one investigation there's another investigation I mean there will this will go on there has to be there has to be has to come out as to why the police treated this because it wasn't you had people who were friends of Kes telling the police as early as the day after she went in the hospital so she's still alive at this point they they're telling the police like this guy has form he's done this kind of thing before he strangled the girl he left her obviously they making reference to Abby he has a terrible history don't this is not we don't believe this is suicide the other major part is in this came out I think um already the the police uh said that when he when they first met him at the car where he was um the paramedics met him when they by the time he got to the hospital shortly after he changed his clothes you know and the body worn footed shows that he changed his he made a change of clothes and the clothes obviously were then taken off to be washed I mean how the police didn't see that there's something wrong here is is something has to be answered I think that people need to know yeah look it's an incredible story and and you know it has those kind of you know almost bizarre elements but it's always important to remember that a young girl lost her life in absolutely brutal circumstances so no doubt it's something we'll come back to Stephen as as we we find how the police uh answer the questions that they have to ask so thanks very much for coming in Stephen no problem cheers I'm Nicola talent and you're watching crime World a podcast about criminals drugs and the underworld in Ireland and across the globe make sure you subscribe to our Channel and turn on notifications so you can be the first to watch all our latest episodes you can also listen wherever you get your podcasts