Death of a Showjumper: Katie Simpson documentary is a powerful insight into evil Jonathan Creswell’s power over women

A documentary on the death of showjumper Katie Simpson is now available to watch on Sky. It is a gripping watch, revealing a veteran journalist’s crusade for the truth and the evil of killer Jonathan Creswell

There have been some powerful true crime documentaries recently. I Fought the Law on ITV was a particularly stunning account of police ineptitude and a woman’s tortured battle for justice for her murdered daughter.

And now we have Death of a Showjumper, set in Northern Ireland, and a gripping story of how journalist Tanya Fowles helped uncover the truth of how Katie Simpson was murdered by Jonathan Creswell in Co Derry in 2020.

This three–part documentary now showing on Sky, charts how Fowles’s tenacity in the face of police resistance and intransigence within the local showjumping community secured the arrest and charging of Creswell.

READ MORE: The best TV show or series filmed in Northern Ireland voted by our readers

READ MORE: Viewers praise ‘incredible’ Gloria Hunniford after ‘heartbreaking’ episode

But the documentary is also an incredible account of how Creswell not only manipulated and ultimately murdered Katie, but also how he left a trail of devastation among women in the showjumping community in Northern Ireland.

Fowles is front and centre of this programme, interviewed at length about how initial pleas with the PSNI fell on deaf ears after she first aired her suspicions that Katie, from Tynan in Co Armagh, had not in fact taken her own life.

Detective sergeant James Brannigan, who like Fowles deserves hero status for his role, is also prominent. He overcame internal PSNI scepticism to bring Creswell to justice and was so frustrated by how the case was handled that he left the force earlier this year.

There is certainly nothing mundane about anything Fowles or Brannigan have to say, but the most astonishing thing about this documentary, which you could easily watch in one sitting such is its relentless pace, are the interviews with Jill Robinson, one of three women who received suspended sentences after pleading guilty to a range of offences connected to Katie’s death.

Robinson, from Omagh, admitted perverting the course of justice by washing clothes belonging to Creswell and was sentenced to 16 months suspended for two years.

But it’s apparent over the course of three episodes that Robinson was one of Creswell’s many victims. By her own account, Robinson’s own romantic relationship with Creswell was over many years before Katie’s murder, yet she recalled emotionally how their relationship had ended as he openly pursued other women. Creswell never relinquished his hold over Robinson, or evidently, other women.

It was painful to watch Robinson break down as she spoke about Creswell, but it was also a remarkable insight into Creswell’s power and influence over the women in his life.

Fowles’s suspicions over Katie’s death were first roused when she discovered it was Creswell who had found her after an apparent suicide attempt. Fowles recalled Creswell he had previously been convicted over the abuse of Abigail Lyle, another showjumper, who is also interviewed about her ordeal at Creswell’s hands.

Lyle was ostracised by many in the showjumping community after bringing the complaints against Creswell. Creswell served a prison sentence, and it’s stomach-churning as the programme reveals that some held a welcome party in his honour after his release.

Lyle eventually managed to free herself from Creswell’s clutches before it was too late and she has gone on to represent Ireland at the Olympics, but tragically, Katie Simpson was not as fortunate. Creswell revealed in police interviews that he had been in a sexual relationship with Katie since she was 17, despite him having two children with Katie’s sister Christina.

Creswell is now dead, having taken his own life in the hours after his murder trial got under way in 2024, leaving details of this crime that we will never know everything about.

Some true crime documentaries today can leave a bad taste, but this is an essential watch, a telling insight into the abuse of women by a powerful man, but also into how one woman’s tenacity and bravery ultimately provided the victim’s family with justice of sorts.

Death of a Showjumper is now showing on Sky and NOW TV.

Sign up to Belfast Live’s daily newsletter here and get headline and breaking news direct to your inbox.