Olympic equestrian Abi Lyle has revealed how she was repeatedly assaulted by horse trainer Jonathan Creswell during their nine-month relationship before he raped and murdered a showjumper.
Former jockey Creswell fatally strangled Katie Simpson, 21, in August 2020.
He died by suicide in April 2024 after the first day of his murder trial which later saw the convictions of three women who helped him cover the attack up and cleaned blood in his house.
The brainwashed allies even supported his lie that the marks he inflicted on Ms Simpson’s body with a horse whip had been the result of a riding accident.
Now Olympic dressage competitor Ms Lyle, 40, has shone light on Creswell’s dark past in an interview with The Telegraph to coincide with Sky’s new documentary Death of a Showjumper.
Ms Simpson was sharing a home in rural Northern Ireland with her older sister Christina, who was Creswell’s partner at the time and the mother of his two children.
Also staying with them was another young woman linked to Creswell.
And Ms Lyle described the local horse riding community as ‘close-knit and patriarchal’ and pointed out that the murderer was a ‘talented guy, well-respected and funny’ which stopped locals and police from investigating him properly.
Olympic equestrian Abi Lyle, pictured, has revealed how she was repeatedly assaulted by horse trainer Jonathan Creswell during their nine-month relationship
Creswell, pictured at court in 2024, later raped and murdered showjumper Katie Simpson in 2020
The trainer was at Ms Simpson’s hospital bedside when she died six days after he killed her, having not regained consciousness following the attack.
Creswell’s charm was so effective that she even convinced authorities that his victim had attempted to hang herself.
Early police checks did not even flag his 2010 conviction for assaulting Ms Lyle, to which he pleaded guilty before serving three months of a six-month sentence.
Around a decade separated this attack and the fatal assault on Ms Simpson, and Ms Lyle said that she did not find the news of her fellow showjumper’s death surprising.
Very few people had heeded her warnings about her assailant in 2010 and locals living in his area had even thrown him a celebration in a pub when he left prison.
In a bid to move on with her life after arriving in England, Ms Lyle decided to stop talking about the distressing incident, a move that still causes some regret.
She said Creswell became associated with ever more women and ended up in a bizarre living arrangement.
Many abusive moments in the ‘horror film’ that was her relationship with Creswell remain difficult for Ms Lyle to talk about.
Ms Simpson, pictured, was sharing a home in rural Northern Ireland with her older sister Christina, who was Creswell’s partner at the time and the mother of his two children
Creswell was at Ms Simpson’s hospital bedside when she died six days after he killed her, having not regained consciousness following the attack (pictured: Ms Simpson on her horse)
But the Team Ireland equestrian recalled various shocking episodes including being driven out into a wooded area in the dark before being choked for hours on end as her then-boyfriend asked her why she was ‘such a w***e’.
Another incident saw Ms Lyle have her head slammed into the dashboard of Creswell’s car while he was driving.
He even threatened to place her into a bath tub filled with bleach.
The former victim at the hands of Creswell’s violence admitted that discussing such things for the documentary was difficult, not least because her family had not even heard some of the stories, but she benefitted from the experience.
And she has also moved on with her life. Last summer, she shone at the Paris Olympics, and Ms Lyle was able to detail this happy ending in the Sky programme.
For all his ability, Creswell’s career never reached the heights many expected it to and his one-time girlfriend offered a reason why.
‘I get frustrated when I hear people go on about how “talented” he was,’ she said. ‘I think he was quite abusive to the animals.
‘That was why he got as far as he did, as a big fish in a small pond, but also what stopped him from getting any farther.’
Ms Lyle, pictured, described the local horse riding community as ‘close-knit and patriarchal’ and pointed out that the murderer was a ‘talented guy, well-respected and funny’
Some people have reported Creswell striking or starving his horses and Ms Lyle corroborated this claims.
It was not just animals that the horse community leader abused.
He also smacked women’s faces and pulled hair, while simultaneously heaping praise on them for carrying out his chores, according to former partners.
He ran a group of, mainly women, like a cult and many seemed to become brainwashed by his charm, as well as his sudden bursts of violence.
One such case was Jill Robinson, his girlfriend before Ms Lyle, who was convicted of covering up the attack on Ms Simpson.
Ms Lyle hailed her bravery for speaking out in the documentary.
She also explained that men are bound to be revered in the horse riding world due to its slightly antiquated vibe, as well as the sheer lack of male participants.
Ms Lyle admitted that Creswell had warned her about his violent streak when they first began dating but that she had taken it for bravado.
Many abusive moments in the ‘horror film’ that was her relationship with Creswell remain difficult for Ms Lyle, pictured, to talk about
Despite being fit, she was stunned that she was not able to fight back when he became aggressive and instead had to placate him with lines, including that her ‘mother is a w***e’.
By doing the documentary, Ms Lyle said she hoped she could spread the message that a variety of different people could be abused, including independent and confident women.
After enduring the tough process of leaving the abusive Creswell, Ms Lyle eventually entered a new more positive relationship and she has been with her current partner for three years.
The grim time at the hands of the future murderer taught her the lesson that she could cope with anything and that the trials of her career pale in comparison to her time with Creswell.
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