A mum who murdered her tot alongside her partner and dumped his body in a river before falsely claiming that he was 'missing' in a sham 999 call has been caged for 28 years. Logan Mwangi's body was dumped in the River Ogmore, South Wales, with the child having suffered catastrophic injuries similar to that of a high-speed car crash.
Logan's, five, remains, discovered on the morning of July 31, 2021, also bore more than 50 external wounds. His mum Angharad Williamson, 31, her boyfriend John Cole, 40, and a teenage boy, 14, were convicted of his murder in April.
Williamson collapsed to the floor in court as the verdict was delivered, saying "no, no, no, no, no", then shouted at Cole: "You lying motherf****** murderer, you lying murderer.” She silently sobbed as she was locked up for life on June 30 and told that she will serve a minimum of 28 years, by Mrs Justice Jefford.
Her partner Cole received a sentence of 29 years behind bars. The teenager was sentenced to life detention with a minimum of 15 years, The Mirror reports.
In a victim statement read out on behalf of Logan's distraught dad Ben Mwangi, he described having "vivid" recurring nightmares about failing to save his son - having been prohibited from seeing him by Cole. "He runs into my arms and I hold him tight but he then slowly disappears until he's no longer in my arms," he said in the statement, read by prosecutor Caroline Rees QC.
"I wake up screaming and crying. I find it difficult to go back to sleep. I don't want to go back to sleep because I don't want to experience these dreams because they are so painful."
Ms Rees also told the court that, despite Logan's horrific injuries, if medical assistance had been sought, he "would have had an 80% chance of survival".
She said in the months and weeks leading up to his death, Logan had been "dehumanised" by his family.
Logan's stammer is said to have worsened, becoming particularly bad around Cole. He wet himself more frequently and began self-harming. Friends of the couple said Cole told them he did not like Logan.
After Williamson gave birth to his own child, Cole was reluctant to let Logan see the baby and later claimed the boy had tried to smother the infant. Jurors had watched chilling CCTV footage of Cole and the youth carrying Logan's body out of the family home.
The grainy video captured at 2.43am on the same day the remains were found by police the pair can be seen leaving Williamson's flat, with the dead child's arm dangling across his evil stepdad's back. Williamson herself made a dramatic 999 call at 5.46am to report her son missing.
Later, when police came to reveal Logan had been found and taken to hospital, the killer mum cried crocodile tears during a theatrical display. But, captured on the officers' bodycam, she perhaps tellingly muttered: "This is all my fault."
Poor Logan had been "treated like a prisoner" and locked away in his barren bedroom behind a baby gate after testing positive for Covid in the days before his death. 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, of Lower Llansantffraid, Sarn, Bridgend, Cole, of Maesglas, Ynysawdre, Bridgend, and the unnamed youth all denied murder. Though all three were found guilty.
They were all also accused of perverting the course of justice, including moving Logan’s body to the river, removing his clothing, washing bloodstained bed linen, and making a false missing person report to police. Williamson and the youth pleaded not guilty - but were convicted - while Cole accepted the charge.
The Crown said that Logan had been subjected to a “brutal and sustained assault” prior to his death. Cole was obsessed with the idea Williamson had cheated on him with Ben, Cardiff Crown Court also previously heard.
The defendant reportedly used a racial slur to describe his step-son, and had links to the National Front. Mr Mwangi said Williamson stopped him seeing Logan as of April 2019.
Just a month before Logan died, social workers removed him and a younger sibling from the child protection register. This meant they were no longer believed to be at risk of serious harm.
The day before police found his body, a social worker spent 20 minutes outside Logan’s home speaking to the three defendants, but did not see or hear him. A child practice review has been launched into Logan’s death and will be led by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board, which includes local councils and the police, probation service and NHS.
Speaking in April, Mr Mwangi said: “What child has to go through that sort of torture for such a long period of the time? “No, it really doesn’t seem real.
“One of the biggest questions in my whole entire life I’ll always be asking myself is, ‘Why? Why did this happen? Why did Logan have to die?’” He also said he was not told his son was on the child protection register and wants the law changed so social services have a duty to inform estranged parents.
“I probably would have tried to take him away,” he continued.
“Why didn’t they do anything to make it a safe environment for him when it clearly wasn’t?
“If I can stop this from happening to anybody else, then that will be the biggest, positive, most positive thing.
“My lasting memory of him was just a happy little boy that called me ‘Daddy’.
“The wonderful memories I have with my son will never be tarnished. They will forever be in my heart and soul.”
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
