Two of the five PSNI officers to retire while under investigation for the mishandling of the Katie Simpson murder case held senior ranks, it can be revealed.
Both were connected to the police Major Investigation Team, one being a chief inspector and the other a sergeant.
A second chief inspector also under investigation remains a serving officer.
However, their retirement and that of the other officers currently under investigation may not allow them to avoid consequences if their conduct is found to have been criminal.
At least one senior officer is suspected of criminal misconduct.
The Police Ombudsman investigations largely fall into two separate sections – before and after the trial of Jonathan Creswell collapsed last year when he took his own life.
Across both sections 13 officers were cited, of whom five have retired while under investigation.
By the time of the trial there were already complaints with the Ombudsman over the repeated failure of PSNI to act on concerns raised from the August 4, 2020 – the day after Katie was admitted unresponsive to hospital.
The first were made in April 2021 after Creswell was finally charged with Katie’s murder.
Codenamed Operation Gambart the investigation was completed in May 2023 and submitted to the PSNI however nothing would be heard of this for over a year.
The report was only partially made public in November 2024 because by now more complaints had come in after the trial ended and significant details had to be held back to protect the integrity of the second investigation.
It was disclosed six officers were referred to PSNI professional standards of whom two retired, three were disciplined and one was cleared.
But the second set of complaints set out explosive concerns of potential criminal misconduct and such was the seriousness of these, coupled with previous failings missed by the first Ombudsman investigation a specialist team was brought in from England who now have the full ambit of complaints.
These are largely broken down into three individual complaints and relate to seven officers, although some feature in more than one complaint.
Of these seven, three have retired while under investigation.
The complaints relate to a variety of significant issues including the alleged unlawful mishandling of information as well as failure to properly investigate the fourth woman who was reported for prosecution along with three others for covering up evidence.
While all four were originally facing court along with Creswell, a later switch meant the fourth woman was mysteriously dropped from the case, with no explanation ever provided.
The circumstances of this were concerning after it emerged she had admitted knowing Creswell had brutally beaten Katie and had retained her phone right up to his arrest.
He had always insisted he knew nothing about Katie’s phone, contending it must have been lost in the commotion of handing her over to ambulance crews.
In fact, he had taken control of it from the previous day, depriving Katie of any chance to call for help.
And while she lay slumped lifeless in the passenger seat as he pretended to carry out CPR, Creswell switched her phone to flight mode, disconnecting it from the network.
But Katie’s phone temporarily reactivated while she was being treated in hospital.
Two weeks later, shortly after her funeral, it reactivated again.
Had that phone been handed to police earlier, the entire case may have taken on a completely different trajectory.
Critical evidence could have been recovered potentially leading to Creswell and those who assisted him being detected much quicker.
The true facts of what really happened that awful night almost five years ago might also have been revealed as they still remain a disturbing mystery, buried with both victim and perpetrator.
