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22nd Feb 2022

Logan Mwangi: 5-year-old boy suffered “extreme” injuries before death in UK

Sarah McKenna Barry

*Content warning – this piece contains details regarding the abuse and murder of a child.*

The murder trial is ongoing.

Three people in the UK are currently on trial for the murder of five-year-old Logan Mwangi.

As Sky News reports, the child’s body was found in the River Ogmore near his home village Sarn in South Wales last July.

Logan’s mother, Angharad Williamson, and her partner John Cole, have been accused of his murder. A third person – a 14-year-old – has also been accused, but he cannot be named due to his age.

Today, a jury at the Cardiff Crown Court heard that Logan suffered 54 injuries prior to his death.

Prosecutor Caroline Rees QC told the court: “The prosecution say that Logan died as a result of a brutal and sustained assault upon him which happened inside the home.

“It is the use of forceful violence which caused the catastrophic injuries found at post mortem.”

Logan’s mother, her partner and the 14-year-old have also been accused of perverting the course of justice.

Accusing them, Ms Rees said: “Each prioritised their own self-preservation over all else and particularly over the needs of Logan.”

The jury also heard how Ms Williamson filed a missing person’s report for Logan on 31 July and accused another woman of abducting him.

CCTV subsequently captured Cole and the 14-year-old walking along the river’s pathway carrying Logan’s body. They walked to the spot where Logan’s body was later found.

Meanwhile, a light can be seen going on and off in the child’s bedroom. Prosecution claim that this means that Williamson was awake and knew what had happened to her child.

Additionally, the jury also heard that a social worker visited the home on 30 July, but was told that Logan could not be seen as it was claimed he had tested positive for Covid-19 and was isolating.

Referencing this, Prosecutor Rees said: “If, as Angharad Williamson claims in interview, and as we understand her defence case will be, (the youth) and John Cole had severely assaulted Logan the day before, why didn’t she tell (the social worker) in her 20-minute visit to the property?”

The murder trial continues.