Tragic Logan Mwangi was failed by the Covid lockdown - when officials missed multiple chances to save his life, a safeguarding review has found.
The five-year-old was murdered by his own mum, stepdad, and twisted step-brother in a "behind closed doors" killing at his family home just weeks after being "stepped down" from the child protection register.
Mum Angharad Williamson, 31, stepdad John Cole, 40, step-brother Craig Mulligan, 14, were all jailed for life over Logan's murder.
Logan was killed just five days after Mulligan moved into the family home following a rushed family court decision despite his violent upbringing and threats to Logan.
He was found dead in a river just 400 yards from the family home in Sarn, Bridgend in July 2021, having suffered 56 external injuries including a torn liver and trauma to the brain.
Williamson falsely claimed her son was ‘missing’ in a 999 call at around 6am on July 31, 2021, as part of a sinister cover up attempt.
At 2.43am, chilling CCTV footage from a neighbour's security system showed Cole carrying Logan's body to the River Ogmore from his home while Mulligan followed him.
Hours later, Logan's body was found.
A report which examined police, school workers, NHS staff and social services found there were multiple failures in the weeks and months leading up to Logan's death.
Shockingly he was removed from the child protection register just 13 days after mum Williamson burned his neck by pressing a hot spoon against his skin.
It found social workers were so consumed with Williamson and Cole and the three-way "banshee" relationship they had with Mulligan's mum that they missed what was happening to Logan.
They also failed to consider whether Logan's mixed-race heritage would have made him a target for racist abuse from former National Front member John Cole.
It found Williamson and Cole were able to hide their abuse of Logan due to Covid-19 restrictions - and social workers were too scared to force meetings.
It said: "Covid 19 was a further barrier to identifying potential disguised compliance, i.e. the family appearing to co-operate with professionals in order to allay any concerns and stop professional engagement.
"This is particularly apparent within the family’s engagement in child protection interventions, the children within the home’s lack of school attendance and delays in seeking medical assistance."
It also said social workers had a "lack of confidence in challenging the family’s potential use of Covid 19 anxieties and Covid 19 symptoms as a barrier to engagement with services."
Logan was referred to as Child T and Mulligan as Child Y throughout the review which was commissioned by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board.
It found that in the months before Logan's murder, Cole, Williamson and Mulligan's mother were living together in a three-way relationship.
It said that Cole and the two women "had been in a polyamorous relationship which they had named ‘Banshee’."
The report found social workers were too focused on the adults in the household and there was an "absence" of time spent with Logan.
It said: "The complexities of the adult relationships involved in the care of Child T overshadowed professionals’ line of sight to him. There was no knowledge of the reality of his lived experience."
The family reported Logan suffered burns in the bath on May 7 - but it later transpired that the injury came from Williamson pressing a hot spoon against his neck.
But despite the wound - which was reported to social services - Logan was removed from the child protection register just 13 days later without a proper plan put in place for his well-being.
It said: "There were gaps in risk assessments and specialist skills around interrogating and analysing evidence.
"There were examples of risk management plans being stepped down without clear explanations as to how the risk had changed or could be managed in the longer term."
"Professionals did not fully explore the context of Child T’s race and ethnicity on his lived experience.
"With the value of hindsight, we know that both Adult A (Cole) and Child Y held and expressed racist and discriminatory views that one would expect to have made life very hard for Child T within the family."
The review found there was a lack of communication between organisations including his school failing to notify others when his mum worried three-stone Logan was putting on weight.
In the months before his murder Logan suffered a broken arm, a broken collarbone and the burn wound to the neck - but health workers failed to press for action.
It said: "Injuries observed on Child T were not shared with services that could have taken appropriate action to safeguard him.
"Several of the injuries, even in isolation, should have triggered a referral.
"If the injuries were considered by Health Professionals to be non-accidental there should have been clear considerations to the number of injuries and site on the body, parental supervision being afforded to Child T and if wider agencies’ support was required. This again should have triggered a child protection referral."
The report recommended 15 measures at both local and national level to ensure tragedies such as Logan do not happen again.
It said the local health board should commission an independent review into how they investigate "non accidental" injuries in children and young adults and staff understand safeguarding training.
It also said the Welsh Government order a review into how child protection conferences are carried out and review information sharing systems between organisations.
Finally, it said the Family Court should ensure any social work assessments into child placements take a minimum of 12 weeks - after Mulligan's was completed in just four.
Cole, Williamson and Mulligan were jailed for a minimum of 72 years - with Cole ordered to serve a minimum of 29 years and Williamson 28 years and Mulligan hand a detention order for 15 years.
The harrowing details of the trial heard Logan was kept like a prisoner in the days before his death after testing positive for Covid-19 and was confined to his tiny bedroom behind a locked child gate.
When he would try and leave the room to interact with his family Williamson and Cole would repeatedly punish him - even in the knowledge that little Logan would self-harm by biting himself until he bled.
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.
"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."
Judge Mrs Justice Jefford said the pain Logan would have suffered was "unimaginable" and that Williamson and Cole inflicted "mental cruelty" on the youngster.
She said that after Logan tested positive for Covid 10 days before his death "the way he was treated was extreme".
She said: "He was kept in isolation in his room for 10 days with a baby gate across the door.
"He had no physical contact with his mother and was made to look away and face a wall when food was passed for him.
"Aged just five-years-old he was expected to entertain himself all day with toys and entertainment on screen.
"This was treatment that dehumanised him in the eyes of his parents - they saw him as a badly behaved child, naughty and demanding."
At sentencing Mrs Justice Jefford said because Logan "was killed in his own home it’s not possible to be sure exactly what happened to him."
She added: "What is very clear is shortly before his death this little boy who is just 3ft 5ins and weighed three stone was subjected to a brutal attack and there were 56 external injuries.
"To see these injuries on a small, defenceless five-year-old is nothing short of horrifying."
Williamson had claimed she was asleep when Logan died and his body was removed from the house, but the judge told her: "Your account was completely unbelievable. Your phone activity through the night and CCTV made it quite clear you were up and about and participating.
"You gave them the top to dispose of and you put the washing machine on. Your actions were careful and calculated and not the product on panic.
"Logan was particularly vulnerable because of his age, he was just five years old, small, and he was completely defenceless."
Former social worker, Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds MS, welcomed the review but said the Welsh Government needed to undertake a full review of social services in Wales.
She said: "This was a child who should not have lived in fear of his life, which was sadly taken. Police, social workers, Cafcass and health failed him.
"There is no blame here but we need more staff who are supported and who work together better.
"A review needs to happen of child protection services across Wales – I note the recommendation for a review of national child protection conferences but it needs to go wider."
Ms Dodds said the report should have called him Logan, adding “they are dehumanising him by calling him Child T”.
Welsh Conservative Shadow Social Services Minister Gareth Davies MS said: "What happened to Logan was a tragedy that should never have happened and might have been prevented if the failures identified in this report were avoided.
"The report also shows the Council being quick to blame Covid for some of its shortcomings, but it does suggest that the Labour Government’s guidance was not clear or responsive enough to allow social workers to properly safeguard vulnerable children during the pandemic."
The Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan said: “This is a tragic case and our thoughts are with everyone affected by Logan’s death, particularly his father. I have been deeply shocked by events leading up to Logan’s death. The pain and suffering he must have experienced is truly horrifying.
“I welcome the publication today of the Child Practice Review and thank all those who have been involved in conducting the review.
"We must learn the lessons from this review and we accept the recommendations relating to Welsh Government. I expect all agencies involved to take time to digest this and we will work with them to take forward the other national recommendations to ensure changes are made.
“I want to repeat how sorry I am to Logan’s father and reiterate my commitment to improve services to ensure vulnerable children are protected. I will make a further statement in the Senedd on Tuesday.”
