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Episode 523: Serial con-artist Samantha Cooke duped Kildare family
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A serial fraudster was employed by a family in Kildare as a live in au pair after being outed on a hit podcast and in a series of newspaper articles as a conwoman.
Samantha Cooke managed to reinvent herself as child care worker Sadie Harris and lived for six months with the family while her real identity faced the eye of a publicity storm about a series of cons across Ireland.
Nicola speaks to journalist Mark Tighe of the Sunday Independent about the extraordinary story of a woman who keeps changing her name, look and background and who is currently gone dark somewhere in Ireland.
He tells her about her latest scam which terrified a young mother returning to work and about her colourful background as an artist, a writer and even a psychotherapist.
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Episode 1332: Groomed (Part 9) - Legacy of a Showjumper
27:09|Jonathan Creswell's suicide denied Katie Simpson's loved ones the opportunity for a murder trial. Despite Creswell’s death, the subsequent sentencing of three co-conspirators—Jill Robinson, Hayley Robb, and Rose De Montmorency-Wright—for charges related to the cover-up allowed the judge to confirm that Creswell was a "skilled and predatory abuser" with an "established pattern" of abuse against women.
Episode 1331: Groomed (Part 8) - The Net Tightens
30:37|Detective Sergeant James Brannigan's new investigation team finally made progress by assembling expert evidence contradicting Jonathan Creswell's story, culminating in Brannigan's team arresting Creswell, and charging him with Katie's murder.
Episode 1330: Groomed (Part 7) - All The Signs Were There
32:58|After delays and months of inaction by the PSNI, Detective Sergeant James Brannigan finally begins the investigation into Katie Simpson's death, and starts to uncover Jonathan Creswell's lies about Katie's supposed suicide attempt.
Episode 1329: Groomed (Part 6) - Mountains of Mistakes
28:45|After the tragic death of Katie Simpson, Detective Sergeant James Brannigan made aware of the case by journalist Tanya Fowles. Brannigan initiates an investigation into Katie Simpson's death after recognising the failure of the PSNI to flag Jonathan Creswell's prior domestic abuse conviction, or to look into his version of events on the night of Katie's murder. Creswell, and the people around him, have questions to answer.
Episode 1328: Groomed (Part 5) - Nightmares and Dreams
29:34|Katie Simpson, a talented and fearless young horsewoman is pulled into Jonathan Creswell’s orbit as a young child, suffering repeated physical and mental abuse at the hands of her sister's partner. By the time she turns 21, she is fighting to retain her independence. Her refusal to be cowed by Creswell's cruelty spurs his anger and control to new levels.Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 1327: Groomed (Part 4) - Building the Cult
34:26|After a prison sentence for domestic abuse, Jonathan Creswell continues to establish a 'cult-like' unit of women around himself, using them for domestic, equestrian, and financial support while maintaining a public facade of charm for wealthy parents. The episode climaxes with Creswell moving his group, including pregnant Christina Simpson and young Katie Simpson, into his biological father Herbie Lusby's property in Donegal, where he continued his pattern of abuse, sexual harassment, and financial exploitation.
Episode 1326: Groomed (Part 3) - Golden Haired Boy
32:09|Episode three of Groomed examines origins of Jonathan Creswell, and the young woman who would become one of his primary victims: Christina Simpson. Creswell, the lovechild of a wealthy farmer and a teenager, was a "golden child" in the equestrian world, who began a relationship with 15-year-old Christina after joining Darton Ree Stables, pulling her, along with former girlfriend Jill Robinson, into his dangerous orbit.
Episode 1325: Groomed (Part 2) - Close to Murder
36:55|In this episode, we look at Jonathan Creswell's history of extreme coercive control and physical abuse through the experience of his ex-partner, world-class show-jumper Abigail Lyle, who bravely spoke out about how he regularly beat and strangled her, and threatened her life, leading to his eventual, though short, prison sentence.
Episode 1324: Groomed (Part 1) - The Pied Piper of Tynan
21:02|Groomed is the disturbing story of Katie Simpson, a talented young horsewoman who tragically died after being beaten and strangled by her sister's partner, Jonathan Creswell. In this episode, we see how Creswell, an ambitious and cocky jockey and horse-trainer, had established a pattern of emotionally abusive and controlling relationships with women in the equestrian world, including former girlfriend Jill Robinson and world-class showjumper Abigail Lyle.