While CCTV and cell-site analysis showed Jonathan Creswell and Katie’s movements until they arrived home in the early hours of August 3, 2020, what actually occurred thereafter remains a disturbing mystery.
Katie, badly beaten and raped, was rendered lifeless from a neck constriction, the prosecution say by Creswell strangling her; he claimed she was hanging.
Around 6am the previous day, Creswell discovered Katie had spent the night with Shane McCloskey, whom she had recently started a relationship.
Infuriated, Creswell bombarded Katie with vicious texts and voicemails, throwing her into panic.
She knew she was in trouble and deleted messages to and from Shane.
On arrival at the event Creswell took her phone and as she competed, his jealous rage steadily boiled.
Afterwards she was ordered into the rear of a horse lorry with him and who drove or what occurred during that journey remains unknown.
Co-defendant Rose de Montmorency-Wright, who lived with Creswell, his partner (Katie’s sister) Christina ‘Nina’ Simpson and their two children, drove Katie’s car home.
Some horses were dropped off at co-defendant Jill Robinson’s Omagh stables before the lorry moved on, leaving the rest in Strabane.
There, Creswell switched to his car and again ordering Katie in, drove into Lifford remaining for 1 hour 20 minutes, before travelling to Claudy until after midnight.
The last activity on Katie’s phone was 6.27pm with nothing outgoing until 11.40pm, when it’s believed Creswell messaged Shane.
Entrapped, his response confirmed Creswell’s suspicions.
When arrested Creswell told police he and Katie had sex on his car bonnet, returning home together around 12.25am on August 3, 2020.
He said on entering the house Christina and Rose were, “still up chatting”.
Rose claimed Katie entered stating she’d been trampled but was neither injured nor upset.
Creswell followed 10 minutes later.
Unlike him, Rose made no mention of Christina being with her.
Creswell claimed he went to bed with Katie where they had sex again.
Rose, who usually shared a bedroom with Katie, slept on the sofa that night.
Nothing is known from then until 4.30am when Christina claimed she observed Creswell asleep in bed with Katie.
Before leaving for work at 6.39am, she saw Creswell now asleep in the spare room.
The minute Christina drove away, Creswell rang Rose who provided no explanation for this or subsequent calls that morning.
Rose claimed she woke just before 7am and took tea to Katie, who said she wasn’t going to work.
Christina later claimed Creswell confessed to telling Rose to say she spoke to Katie.
At 7.07am Rose left in Creswell’s car, opting not to take Katie’s claiming it was unreliable, despite driving it the previous day.
While Katie’s car was seized for examination, it’s unclear if Creswell’s was.
Between 7.44am and 8.50am there were four calls between Creswell and Rose, one at 7.46am, lasted 2mins 40 seconds.
At 7.19am Shane texted Katie, then rang unsuccessfully at 7.45am.
Seven minutes later Creswell left to take the children to his mother’s, driving Katie’s car and still in possession of her phone.
After Rose left, the children were effectively alone with Creswell, who by this point had raped and assaulted Katie.
If she did speak to Rose, the fatal action most likely occurred in the 45 minutes ahead of Creswell leaving the house.
If she didn’t speak to Rose, the attack may have occurred while the women and children were in the house.
It’s impossible to gauge if medical intervention at an earlier stage could have saved Katie’s life.
Either way, when Creswell left, Katie lay dead or dying.
While returning, he talked to co-defendant Hayley Robb and during an 11-minute call disclosed giving Katie “a hiding” for sleeping with Shane.
On arriving back around 8.19am, still talking to Hayley, Creswell entered the house and in “feigned surprise” screamed Katie was hanging.
He told Hayley to call an ambulance then allegedly took Katie’s full weight and tried to loosen the ligature but was unable to “get her high enough”.
From entering the house, doing all he claimed without assistance and setting off for the hospital at 8.24am, took five minutes.
Having been told to pull over at 8.28am Creswell was counting out chest compressions on Katie but was actually disconnecting her phone from the network.
At 8.42am he was speaking to police at the roadside while Katie, still wearing her showjumping shirt from the previous day and just underwear, was treated by paramedics.
She died six days later without regaining consciousness.
The initially botched police investigation seriously hampered the case and it was almost four long years before Creswell went on trial.
It abruptly ended after 24 hours without a single witness giving evidence when he was found dead, taking what really happened to his grave.
Tragically, justice was denied when the truth died with Katie and her killer.
