Everyone who knew him agreed that Logan Mwangi was a delightful child – cheerful, polite and lively. Relatives and friends describe a passion for life, a sense of fun and tender nature.
His last months must have been a horrible, painful ordeal. When Logan’s body was examined after he was found lifeless in the Ogmore River, near the family home in Sarn, South Wales, it was bruised, scratched and scratched from head to toe. More than 50 sites of injuries have been identified – and many more individual injuries.
Some of his organs, including his brain, liver and stomach, were so badly damaged as if he had been involved in a car accident or fallen from a height. The attack or attacks that led to his death continued, and he would surely be in pain for many hours. But older injuries were also reported – a broken arm, a clavicle fracture, a burn to the back of the head. The abuse lasted for months.
The people Logan should be able to count on – his mother, Angarad Williamson, 30, and his stepfather, John Cole, 40 – were found guilty of killing him along with a 14-year-old boy known as Boy X, whose identity cannot be established. to be disclosed for legal reasons. It is impossible to say who did what, but the jury found all three guilty.
Logan Mwangi: mother, stepfather and unnamed teenager found guilty of murder – video report
An examination of children’s practice was carried out to establish whether mistakes had been made by the authorities, who had had many contacts with the family.
It now seems clear that there are clues that terrible things are happening, including blatant threats to Logan’s life by boy X, a mysterious broken bone that social workers and police knew about, and a disturbing change in his appearance and behavior that teachers noticed. . Like many young victims of violence before him, the pieces were not collected.
Logan was born on March 15, 2016 in Bridgend. His mother was raised in Essex by a mother from Wales and an English father. She went to private school, studied film at Southend College and worked as a telephone shop manager in East London.
She began a relationship with Logan’s father, Ben Mwangi, an Essex bookmaker with Kenyan heritage, in 2014, but returned to Wales. Williamson said Logan was a “perfect” child and she adored him.
The relationship with Ben Mwangi ended within months of Logan’s birth, and Williamson married an ex-soldier, but left it three years later and moved into a two-bedroom apartment on the ground floor of the village of Sarn. In the spring of 2019, Williamson met Cole at a pub in Bridgend. “We contacted immediately,” she said.
Sketch of the court painter of Angarad Williamson and John Cole on the dock in the crown court of Cardiff. Photo: Elizabeth Cook / PA
Born in Warwickshire, Cole constantly had problems with police as a young man, amassing a string of convictions for crimes, including burglary, possession of a blade in a public place and attacks on ex-partners and a child. Friends from those days say he was a racist with an interest in the National Front.
In 2017, looking for a new beginning, Cole moved to Wales and found himself in a house in the village of Tondu, on the other side of the river Sarn. Cole falsely told people that he was in the SAS and had a suspended sentence hanging over him.
Cole and Williamson began living together, sharing time between their two homes. He soon began to control her and, jealous of Logan’s father, forced her to sever ties with him. He called Logan “Coco Pop” because of the color of his skin, hating that the boy, according to Williamson, was his father’s “spit.”
An acquaintance, whose evidence was not presented to the jury, claims that Cole would turn life into “hell” for Logan because of the color of his skin.
After the first blockade of Covid in the spring of 2020, Logan returned to school shortly before summer vacation. A training assistant in Tondu noticed that he was stuttering, had lost weight and had dark circles under his eyes.
During the August 15 holidays, Logan broke his arm in a fall. His mother took him to hospital and the staff was concerned enough to contact the police. Williamson said Logan fell down the stairs at Tondu’s house.
Boy X was a troubled child with mental health problems who lived there. He would attract attention, and teachers described him as destructive and aggressive.
One of the few pastimes that kept him interested was Thai boxing. In early 2021, boy X was beaten by his mother and taken into care. That same day, Williamson called police and told them that Boy X had confessed to pushing Logan down the stairs in August. She said she felt Logan was in danger and asked for help. A Public Protection Notice (PPN) was issued to alert vulnerable people.
Tensions between Cole and Logan increased, and Cole would lose his temper with Logan and hit him in the head.
Williamson was also strict with Logan, and once during that time, Cole said, he burned the back of his neck with a hot coffee spoon. The couple lied to social services that he had burned himself on a hot tap. At the same time, Logan also received a broken collarbone, which was not treated and was not braided properly. In court, Cole said Logan fell when he tried to climb on a kitchen surface. Now it seems likely that this was also an attack.
Photo of Logan among flowers in Sarn in August 2021 Photo: Matthew Horwood / Getty Images
Social services knew about Cole’s criminal past and Logan was placed on the Child Protection Register (CPR), a list of all children in Wales identified as at risk of significant harm. Social workers visited several times during the summer and expressed no concern, lowering Logan’s status from “child in protection” to “child in need.”
Meanwhile, boy X lived with a foster family and had a hard time with them. He threatened to kill them and Logan. One caregiver said, “He was pure evil and loved to cause anxiety and fear.” He was fascinated by death and tried to get other children to play a murder game that involved putting them in black garbage bags.
In a police statement read in court, the foster family said it had reflected threats against Logan with Boy X social worker Debbie Williams, but she dismissed them. In the witness box, Williams denied being told about the problems.
On July 21, Logan tested positive for Covid. The rules of isolation imposed by Cole and Williamson were harsh. He was forced to stay in his room with the curtains closed and facing the wall when food was brought to him. A stair gate was placed in front of his door so that he could not escape. Even Williamson admitted in court that the room was like a dungeon. Logan worries and hurts himself by pinching or biting.
Audio from the call of mother 999 after the disappearance of Logan Mwangi
On July 29, a dispute broke out over a trivial issue: stereo damage, which Logan was accused of. Williamson claims that Cole punched Logan in the abdomen and that boy X used martial arts to sweep him off his feet, causing him to hit his head on the floor.
That day, Williams made an unscheduled visit to the apartment in Sarn. She was not released on the pretext that Logan was in solitary confinement, and the boy X, who was outside, told her to “get out.”
What happened on the night of Friday, July 30, and Saturday, July 31, is unknown. Cole said he woke up when he heard Williamson shout that Logan was dead, but did not ask how it happened and said he simply took the body to the river.
Williamson said she slept through the night, woke up and found Logan missing and had no idea how he died. Boy X said he accompanied Cole to the river, believing it was fly trash.
The jury found that all three stories were lies and that all three defendants had killed Logan and tried to cover up their horrific crime.
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