The UUP leader added: “any police officer who is involved in or who uses misogynistic language, there’s no place for them within the police service.”
The UUP leader and former Head of Internal Discipline in the PSNI has claimed that he never heard misogynistic language in the police service.
His comments come after a review into the investigation of the murder of showjumper Katie Simpson finding that “institutional misogyny” contributed to “clear warning signs” being missed in the initial police investigation.
Jon Burrows served as Head of Internal Discipline in the PSNI at the time of Katie Simpson’s murder until his retirement on medical grounds a year later, in 2021.
He was speaking to Belfast Live just days after an independent review into the Katie Simpson investigation made 16 recommendations, concluding there were systemic failings in how the case was handled.
“The murder was an evil act by a serial abuser of women, and it was committed against an entirely innocent woman, and it’s vital that lessons are learned about this,” he said.
“I think at the outset, it is imperative that every sudden death or suspected suicide is treated with an open mind , and if you don’t have an open mind at the outset, what tends to happen is you interpret all pieces of information as confirming what your initial presumption is, in this case, that it was a suicide, not a murder.
“I think there’s a degree of training around making sure that officers retain an open mind. There are serious questions about supervision at all levels, from the sergeant right up to the highest levels in the local district and the murder investigation teams, because clearly there was a conflict here. There were some officers who had concerns, there were members of the public who had concerns, and yet they weren’t properly listened to. I think what should have happened here is there should have been an intervention by a senior officer to sit and weigh up all the information.”
Mr Burrows said that he warned “for years” that sergeants and inspectors are “pulled towards the computer”, rather than frontline policing, due to levels of bureaucracy within the police service and said that there was a “catastrophic failure of leadership” in this case.
“Jonathan Creswell had an offending history for coercive control and domestic violence. Concerns were repeatedly raised with the police by members of the public, and those were missed.
“Somewhere in the mix of this, those in senior leadership positions in that district should have been intervening and should have been making sure this was properly investigated.
“Lessons should have been learned, both in terms of culture, in terms of process and in terms of investigative mindsets.”
Jon Burrows said that he was the first retired officer to “call out” what he said were “catastrophic errors” in the case back in August 2024.
Reflecting on his own experience in the PSNI, Mr Burrows said that all sudden deaths are supposed to be reviewed the next morning, and if you are in doubt as to whether a death is suspicious or not, it should be treated as suspicious, as there is a critical timeframe to get evidence from a postmortem and forensics.
“I want to put on record, I also am deeply concerned about a culture in our entire justice system that seems to put the interests of the perpetrator in front of the interests of the victim,” he continued.
“I’ve been talking about this for a long time. So, for example, in this case, Creswell is someone who has a conviction for coercive control and abuse, despite being charged in court for murder, where there’s a major incentive to jump bail, despite the case involving one where there was interference of witnesses and perverting the course of justice, inexplicably, Creswell was granted bail by the judge.
“What on earth was Creswell doing on bail during a trial for murder in which there were outstanding witnesses, in which he was also charged with interfering with those witnesses and perverting the course of justice, and that allowed him to commit suicide, and evade justice.
“I think this, this case calls for a wider review of the culture of the entire justice system, and it’s no surprise to me that we have the highest femicide rates in the UK, because you consistently prioritise the rights of the perpetrator over the rights of victims.”
All the PSNI officers investigated over the handling of the case have since retired. Jon Burrows said that while he was in the PSNI’s Professional Standards team, he recommended that misconduct regulations be amended so that cases could be taken against officers if they leave the PSNI or retire, as happens in England and Wales, but his recommendations were never progressed.
Despite Dr Jan Melia’s report finding that “institutional misogyny” contributed to “clear warning signs” being missed, Mr Burrows defended the culture he oversaw: “I’ve never heard misogynistic language in the police service, not for a long time, and if I did, it was challenged.
“Policing, since the inception of the peace process, and I was in the Met Police, initially, and then I came to the PSNI in the early 2000’s, what happened was the police were heavily trained in human rights compliance.
“I think the training overemphasised what the police couldn’t do in terms of arrest and refusing bail and all of those things in terms of suspect rights, but I don’t think it emphasised enough the positive obligation that the police service has to protect life, to investigate crime, and to take positive action to bring offenders to justice. That’s one of the cultures I saw develop.
“In terms of misogynistic language, let me make this clear: any police officer who is involved in or who uses misogynistic language, there’s no place for them within the police service. Any officer involved in domestic violence, there’s no place for them in the police service.
“I am pleased that there’s been some prosecutions recently for two police officers who were involved in paying for sex. I’ve always supported honest and hardworking officers, but anyone, and I mean anyone, who is misogynistic, who engages in degrading treatment towards women has no place in the police service, and they should be rooted out.”
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