Mother, stepfather and 14-year-old boy are found GUILTY of murdering Logan Mwangi
ANOTHER child failed by the system: Logan Mwangi was beaten, starved and tortured before being murdered by his mother, stepfather and boy, 14 – but social workers missed chances to save five-year-old despite visit just one day before he died
Logan Mwangi was found dead on July 31 last year in the River Ogmore near Pandy Park in Bridgend He suffered catastrophic injuries before being dumped, appearing to have been ‘fly-tipped like rubbish’ His mother Angharad Williamson, 31, her partner John Cole, 40, and a boy, 14, have been convicted of murderSocial workers were called to the home the day before Logan was murdered while police visited a year earlier
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Social services missed opportunities to save little Logan Mwangi and even visited his home the day before the five-year-old was murdered by his mother, stepfather and a 14-year-old boy.
John Cole, 40, and Angharad Williamson, 31, of Sarn, Bridgend, were convicted of killing Logan at Cardiff Crown Court today while a teenage boy, who cannot be named because of his age, was also found guilty of murder.
On the morning of July 31 last year the previously ‘smiling, cheerful little boy’, was found by police just 250 metres from his home submerged in the River Ogmore, wearing a pair of dinosaur pyjama bottoms and a Spider-Man top.
In the months and weeks leading up to his death, Logan had been ‘dehumanised’ by his family. His stammer worsened, becoming particularly bad around Cole, and he wet himself more frequently and began self-harming.
Social services – who visited Logan’s house the day before he died – had missed a catalogue of opportunities to save him, having taken no action in May 2021 when the boy burned his neck on a hot bath tap. Their investigation relied on photographs of the tap and Logan’s injuries.
Police also failed to take action a year earlier, when the five-year-old broke his arm. It emerged today he had been pushed down the stairs by the 14-year-old who later took part in killing him.
The case of Logan’s murder has chilling echoes of the tragic deaths of 16-month-old Star Hobson, six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes and two-year-old Kyrell Matthews. All three children were murdered after suffering months of systematic abuse in their homes.
In Logan’s case, social services had been aware that the boy’s stepfather Cole had a criminal record for assault, burglary, possessing cannabis, resisting a police officer, blackmail and perverting the course of justice.
Cole, a former National Front member who nicknamed the five-year-old ‘Coco Pop’, had forced the boy to eat Weetabix on family ‘takeaway nights’ while they feasted on a KFC, and would tease him about the food he was missing out on.
Cole, who stood at 6ft4ins tall and weighed 15 stone, would tower over the 3ft 5ins, 3st Logan and use army-style punishments on him, forcing the child to do press-ups until he was in tears and collapse on the floor. Logan was also made to stand outside the house in just his pyjamas, neighbours said.
Cole held ‘long standing racist beliefs’ which could have been ‘relevant to his motives’ in the attacks on Logan, and he even stopped him from seeing his real father and grandmother, the court heard.
The five-year-old had also been ‘kept like a prisoner’ in his small bedroom – likened to a ‘dungeon’ – with a baby gate barring him from leaving after testing positive for coronavirus on July 20.
The 14-year-old boy, who was today convicted of murdering Logan, had threatened to kill his foster family after watching The Purge and asked girls to play a murder game where he would put their bodies in black bags, the court was told.
‘Even the dog was afraid of him’ after he attacked the family pet by pulling it up by its back legs following an operation and allegedly spraying deodorant into its eyes, the court heard.
Logan had suffered 56 external cuts and bruises, and ‘catastrophic’ internal injuries, which were likened to a high-speed road accident.
John Cole, 40, and Angharad Williamson, 31, of Sarn, Bridgend, were convicted of killing Logan Mwangi by a jury of five men and seven women at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday after five hours of deliberation
Pictured left: Logan Mwangi wearing his dinosaur pyjamas. Right: The ripped clothes which were recovered from the scene
Logan, a previously ‘smiling, cheerful little boy’, was discovered in the River Ogmore (circled, along with the house) in Pandy Park, Bridgend, South Wales, on the morning of July 31 2021
The five-year-old boy had also been ‘kept like a prisoner’ in his small bedroom – likened by his mother to a ‘dungeon’ – with a baby gate barring him from leaving after testing positive for coronavirus on July 20
Logan Mwangi’s mother Angharad Williamson, 31, (left) went on trial at Cardiff Crown Court with her partner John Cole (right), 40, and a 14-year-old boy
Logan (pictured) was found dead in the River Ogmore in Pandy Park, around 250 metres from the flat where he lived with his family in Lower Llansantffraid, Sarn, Bridgend on the morning of July 31, 2021
Pictured: Angharad Williamson, seen in police bodycam footage, after Logan went missing
Police and forensics are pictured on the scene of the murder. The case of Logan’s murder has chilling echoes of the horrific killings of 16-month-old Star Hobson and six-year-old Arthur Labinjo-Hughes
Logan’s biological father Benjamin Mwangi reading a statement outside Cardiff Crown Court this afternoon
Experts said the injuries could have only been caused by a ‘brutal and sustained assault’ inflicted on Logan in the hours, or days, prior his death. They also said the injuries were ‘consistent with child abuse’.
Williamson screamed ‘no, no, no’ as the verdicts were returned.
Judge Mrs Justice Jefford had to interrupt the jury and the clerk to tell Williamson to be quiet before the verdict against the youth was given.
‘Out of respect for your son and the youth please be quiet for the verdicts,’ she said.
Friends of the couple said Cole told them he did not like Logan, and others said his attitude changed after becoming obsessed with the idea Williamson had cheated with Logan’s father Benjamin Mwangi.
Medics made a safeguarding referral to the police after Logan suffered a broken arm in August 2020, with Williamson saying he had fallen down the stairs.
She took him to hospital the day after the incident and said she thought he had only dislocated his shoulder and had tried to put it back.
Later she told a friend the youth had confessed to pushing Logan down the stairs but it was not until January last year she told the police.
By March, due to concerns over Cole, Logan and his younger sibling had been assigned their own social worker, Gaynor Rush.
In June, a month before Logan died, the family were removed from the child protection register – meaning it was believed there was no longer a risk of significant harm.
A foster family the youth stayed with claimed to have heard him say he wanted to kill Logan.
They said they reported the teen’s ‘desire for violence’ and threats to harm Logan to his social worker Debbie Williams but that she seemed unconcerned. Ms Williams denies this.
A support worker also heard the youth, singing: ‘I love kids, I f****** love kids, I love to punch kids in the head, it’s orgasmic.’
Weeks before he died, Logan suffered a broken collarbone but he never got medical treatment.
On July 20 Logan tested positive for Covid-19 and he was shut in his bedroom with a baby gate barring him from leaving.
Ms Rees said: ‘He had been kept like a prisoner in his small bedroom in the flat you saw, a room likened by Williamson as a dungeon.’
Williamson claimed that two days before Logan’s body was found an argument about a spilt drink escalated and ended with Cole and the youth attacking him.
She accused Cole of punching Logan twice in the stomach and ordering the youth to ‘sweep’ Logan if he stuttered or flinched.
Moments later the youth carried out the martial arts-style manoeuvre, kicking his legs out from under him while using his hand to slam his head to the ground.
Williamson said she screamed for them to stop but said Cole replied: ‘The only way this boy understands is pain.’
Two days later, she phoned the police at 5.45am reporting Logan missing – claiming to have awoken to find him gone and accusing a woman of taking him.
Police arrived at the flat to find Williamson hysterical, while Cole and the youth could be seen walking around the area calling for him.
Prosecutors said this was part of an ‘elaborate’ cover-up concocted by the defendants and all three were accused of perverting the course of justice, of which Williamson and youth were convicted.
Cole, who was captured on CCTV carrying Logan’s body to the river from the flat, while being followed by the youth, admitted the charge.
Pictured: Floral tributes and teddy bears left in Sarn on August 2
A post-mortem examination was carried out on August 2. Cole, Williamson (right) and the youth faced a jury over the boy’s death
The little boy was murdered after he caught Covid, before Williamson and Cole dumped his body in a river as if they were ‘fly-tipping’ rubbish, a court heard
Logan was found by officers on the riverbank on July 31 and taken to the town’s Princess of Wales Hospital, where he was confirmed dead. Pictured: Police at the scene
Pictured: Angharad Williamson (left) and John Cole (right) pictured in court sketches
He claimed he woke to the sound of Williamson screaming Logan was dead and he panicked.
CCTV shows a bedroom light being switched on and off while Cole and the youth were out – the prosecution used this evidence to show Williamson was awake and aware Logan was dead.
Cole said after dumping the boy’s body, Williamson sent him out again to hide his ripped pyjama top.
The youth never gave evidence in the trial.
The judge adjourned the case for sentencing at a date to be fixed.
The three defendants were said to have covered-up the horrific crime in an ‘elaborate charade’ by claiming Logan had gone missing or been kidnapped while in isolation.
Williamson had denied any involvement in her son’s death, saying she slept the whole night through and woke to find him missing.
Williamson and the youth denied murder and perverting the course of justice.
Cole denied murder but admitted perverting the course of justice.
Williamson and Cole also denied causing or allowing the death of a child.
The little boy was murdered after he caught Covid, before Williamson and Cole dumped his body in a river as if they were ‘fly-tipping’ rubbish, the court was told.
Williamson appeared distressed and as a summary of the evidence against her and the two other defendants was described by Caroline Rees QC.
She began to cry, becoming more upset as the jury was shown a picture of Logan and the circumstances of the five-year-old’s death was described.
A jury heard Williamson dialled 999 claiming her son had vanished in the night and said he’d been kidnapped from his bed after finding the garden gate open.
Williamson was heard calling Logan’s name during the 999 call and her partner and the teenage defendant went around asking neighbours if they had seen him.
Logan was found wearing only mis-matched pyjamas in the river by police a short time later, taken to the town’s Princess of Wales Hospital, where he was confirmed dead.
The court heard that, on the afternoon of July 30, a social worker made an unscheduled visit to Cole and Williamson’s address but was told she could not see Logan because he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was in self-isolation.
The trial had heard that Logan was ‘dehumanised’ in his final days by his mother, stepfather and the 14-year-old boy.
In her closing speech to the jury, Prosecutor Caroline Rees QC said he had been kept ‘like a prisoner in his small bedroom – a room described by Angharad Williamson as ”like a dungeon” with the curtains closed and a barred child’s gate stopping him from moving about the rest of the flat’.
She added: ‘That little boy was being made to face a wall as food was being delivered so other members of the house did not catch Covid.
‘What must have he thought of the way his life was in these 10 days? He was dehumanised by each of the defendants.’
Ms Rees said that Logan had become ‘anxious, wetting himself, harming himself by pinching or biting himself’ in his last weeks.
But she added that instead of seeing to Logan’s needs, Williamson and Cole became ‘irritated’ and ‘annoyed’ by him and would punish him further.
Ms Rees told the jury at Cardiff Crown Court that after killing Logan, the three defendants worked on ‘cleaning up the scene and putting a trail in place to lead the police up the wrong track’.
Ms Rees said Williamson and Cole had ‘worked together’ in the past to cover up Logan’s injuries including an apparent dislocated shoulder and a burn to his neck.
She said: ‘They put their own self-interests first ahead of the needs of Logan.
‘Working together to lie to protect themselves in the context of an injury to Logan, and not only did they lie but they managed to convince medical staff, social workers and even the police.’
‘Their motive for lying is to cover up their own involvement.’
How social services failed little Logan Mwangi: Police called when five-year-old broke his arm and social workers took NO action when he burned his neck on a hot tap – months before being murdered by his ‘new’ family
By Henry Martin and Tom Bedford for MailOnline
Social services missed a catalogue of opportunities to save five-year-old Logan Mwangi from being killed at the hands of his ‘new family’.
The nine-week murder trial revealed no one was looking out for the schoolboy who died alone in his bed two days after suffering horrific head injuries.
Police were called to the family home in August 2020, a year before Logan died, after he suffered a broken arm from apparently falling down stairs.
In May 2021 social services took no action when Logan burned his neck on a hot bath tap. Their investigation relied on photographs of the tap and Logan’s injuries.
On the day before Logan died, social worker Debbie Williams called to the family home in Lower Llansantffraid, Sarn, Bridgend, to check on the welfare of the 13-year-old.
The nine-week murder trial heard Logan was already seriously injured at that time but Ms Williams was not allowed in and the teenage boy told her to ‘f*** off.’
Bridgend Social Services also knew the teenager was an ‘incredibly antagonistic’ child with a green belt in martial arts and was prone to violent outbursts.
Social Services knew 6ft 4in Cole had a criminal record for assault, burglary, possessing cannabis, resisting a police officer, blackmail and perverting the course of justice.
Checks with Logan’s school would have revealed purple-haired Angharad Williamson was regarded as ‘generally a volatile person’. Inquiries with her GP would have discovered she was taking a variety of anti-depressants.
Friends and neighbours knew Logan was being bullied and being called a f***ing d***head by his own mother but none of these things were reported.
His father Benjamin Mwangi in Essex had not seen his ‘bright and chatty’ little boy for 18 months. His loving grandmother Claire Williamson, who disliked Cole, had been stopped from seeing Logan by her daughter.
When his parents found his lifeless body in the early hours of the morning he was wrapped in black plastic bags and carried to a nearby river.
Shocked jurors fought back tears when they were told it was as if his body, dressed in mismatched pyjamas, had been ‘fly-tipped like rubbish’.
Even more distressing were medical reports stating Logan could have survived if had been given prompt medical attention.
Instead the family embarked on an ‘elaborate charade’ pretending Logan had wandered through an open garden gate in the middle of the night.
Williamson, 31, made a ‘chilling’ 999 call begging police to find her little boy while Cole and the teenage boy walked around their estate shouting ‘Logan, Logan.’
All three knew he was laying dead in the shallows of the River Ogmore just 400 yards from the family home.
Logan, 3ft 5in and weighing just three stone, had suffered brain trauma, 56 separate injuries to his face, head, trunk, arms legs and feet along with a broken collar bone and ‘deep scalp bruising’.
John Williams, the pathologist who carried out the post mortem examination, said part of Logan’s head injury could have been inflicted up to 40 hours before his death. Some of his injuries were weeks old.
Cardiff Crown Court heard the youngster died slowly suffering headaches, nausea and vomiting, confusion before losing consciousness and going into a coma.
Williamson (pictured with her son Logan) denied murdering the five-year-old
Police and forensic officers at the scene of the alleged murder last year
While that was happening his family were on the next room, smoking, and watching TV.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees QC told the jury: ‘He (Logan) would not have stood a chance against any one of the defendants, let alone three of them acting together.’
Referring to the phoney 999 call, Ms Rees said: ‘It demonstrates the extent to which Williamson was prepared to lie and her ability to put on a performance to save her own skin, even when dealing with the death of her own five-year-old child.’
The couple’s friends and neighbours knew that Logan was being bullied at home, being made to do press-ups and cruelly deprived of food if he misbehaved.
Family friend Jodie Simmonds told the murder trial that Logan was crying and visibly shaking in the press-up position.
She said: ‘Jay said he was naughty and he needed to learn. Logan collapsed on the floor and Jay asked him to get back into the position. He was three or four at the time.’
Miss Simmonds told how Logan was banned from having a KFC for misbehaving while the rest of the family tucked into the takeaway meal.
She said: ‘John Cole said how tasty the food was – he was rubbing it in. Logan was looking sad, sitting on the floor. He was becoming withdrawn because he was being punished all the time.’
Upstairs neighbour Kevin Gorman told the eight-week trial how Williamson referred to the five-year-old as a f***ing d***head’ and said he watched as Logan, barefoot and in pyjamas, was made to face a concrete wall for 30 minutes for being naughty.
The behaviour of the defendants after their arrest gave an insight into Logan’s miserable life and the poor parenting skills of the couple.
Williamson didn’t cry when she was shown her son’s body at Bridgend’s Princess of Wales Hospital later on July 31 and nurses said she appeared ‘quite frightened’ to touch him.
Nurse Rosie O’Neil told the trial: ‘Her hands were hovering over him. She went to kiss his forehead and she looked at me. I felt she was making sure I was watching to see she was being affectionate towards Logan.’
To keep up the pretence that Logan had fallen in the river and drowned she told nurse O’Neil: ‘I wish I’d taught him to swim. He should have had swimming lessons.’
South Wales police constable Lauren Keen found Logan lying dead in the River Ogmore within Pandy Park in Sarn, Bridgend just after 6am on July 31. Pictured: Police and forensic officers at the scene
Logan Mwangi was discovered in a river close to his home after being reported missing by his mother
The murder trial heard Williamson found Logan’s behaviour ‘challenging’ and the schoolboy had been confined to the house with Covid creating pressure within the family, further ‘fracturing’ the motherly bond.
Family friend Daniel O’Brien told the trial Williamson was ‘acting very strong’ when he arrived with a teddy bear, flowers and sympathy card following Logan’s death.
Mr O’Brien, the ex-boyfriend of Jodie Simmonds, said: ‘Something wasn’t right – she said she missed punishing Logan. I was in shock. I looked towards Jodie and shook my head.’
Mr O’Brien, known to Logan as Uncle Dan, said earlier in their friendship Cole had told him: ‘I don’t like Logan.’
While on remand Williamson was proud of her notoriety as the ‘mother of the Bridgend baby’ and other women prisoners noticed a ‘weird kind of attention seeking’.
Joanne Brooks who was in Eastwood Park prison in Gloucestershire said Williamson introduced herself saying ‘Have you heard of the Bridgend baby – the boy that was murdered and thrown in the river? Well, I’m his mother’.
Prosecutor Ms Rees asked about her demeanour and Ms Brooks replied: ‘It was like she was telling me what she just bought at the shops’.
The court heard the day after Logan’s death the 13-year-old seemed happy ‘as if he was celebrating’.
He carried on playing Call of Duty on his Xbox when police turned up at the family’s first floor flat hours after Logan was found dead in the river.
PC Brian Cooper told the trial: ‘He was fully immersed in the game using the maps and weapons really well.’
When he was shot playing the game the teenager said: ‘You’re f***ing adopted’ and made other inappropriate comments.
Pc Cooper told the jury he had the impression the boy was experienced at Call of Duty, which has an over-18 certificate, and said Cole made no objection to the ‘quick outburst’.
Support workers who came into contact with the teenager following Logan’s death said he would veer between hostility and using a baby voice if he thought it would get him out of trouble.
Julie Rowlands said after being told to go to bed, the 14-year-old sang: ‘I love kids, I f***ing love kids, I love to punch kids in the head, it’s orgasmic.’
Ms Rowlands said there was ‘no particular melody’ and it appeared that ‘he wanted us to know what he was singing about’.
The boy told support workers ‘I’ve done some bad stuff’ and: ‘If you knew what was going on in my head, trust me, you don’t want to know.’
Cole was caught on CCTV carrying Logan’s limp body from the flat across a playing field towards the river where he was found by police shortly after dawn on July 31.
He admitted perverting the course of justice by moving Logan’s body, removing his clothing, washing blood-stained bed linen, and making a false missing person report to police.
But all three denied murder and their legal teams tried to muddy the waters and cast the blame for Logan’s murder onto each other.
In her evidence Williamson told the jury: ‘I have nothing in my life. The only thing I can do now is get justice for Logan.’
