Allison Morris

And that means that Katie's phone wasn't seized.

Her sister noticed that WhatsApp messages were being read and being checked on her phone.

She thought the police had the phone and it was them checking through it.

And it was in fact that Cresswell still had her phone.

It was only recovered when he was investigated, what, almost seven months, eight months later.

And so none of this was checked at the time.

People were continually trying to blow the whistle.

We know one of our own colleagues, the court reporter, Tanya Fowles, repeatedly had tried to contact police.

and express her concerns, and that was because she had covered the previous court case when Cresswell was convicted of his brutal assault on Abbey Lyle, so she knew the character of the man.

But none of this, it appears, was taken.

And then, as you say, there was complaints made to the Ombudsman.

When the Ombudsman investigated that, I think six of those officers retired before they could be disciplined, which again is a really serious issue that officers under investigation like that are just retiring.

And also you have two officers, one of which tells the ombudsman that he's just a bit of a bad boy.

And the other one went, oh, he's just a bit of a philanderer.

And this completely diminishes the fact that this man was neither, you know...

a bad boy, like high five, mate, he's a bit of a flanderer.

He was a convicted domestic abuser.

He was a violent, coercive man.

And none of this seemed to strike home with the officers.

And Willie Criswell was charged in relation to this incident.