Logan Mwangi death: a timeline of key events
A review has been published into the murder of the 5-year-old in Bridgend
Last updated 24th Nov 2022
Details of a review into the murder of 5-year-old Logan Mwangi, in Bridgend, have been published.
Here is a timeline of the key events in the life of Logan Mwangi and the aftermath of his death:
- March 15 2016: Logan Mwangi is born in the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, to Angharad Williamson and Benjamin Mwangi. Their relationship quickly breaks down and Mr Mwangi moves back to Brentwood, Essex.
- June 2016: Mr Mwangi visits Logan in Bridgend for their first Father's Day together and they have regular contact. Williamson and Logan move in with Mr Mwangi in Essex but by August have returned to Wales.
By the end of the year, Williamson had married another man, but the relationship became violent. During this time, contact between Logan and his father ceases.
- 2019: Contact between Logan and his father resumes. In April, Williamson takes Logan to visit Mr Mwangi and his family in Essex. This was the last time Mr Mwangi saw Logan, as Williamson was in a relationship with Cole and was preventing access.
- August 16 2020: Logan is taken to hospital by his mother, Williamson, who said he sustained a dislocated shoulder when he fell down the stairs the day before. Doctors examining Logan find he has a broken arm. The hospital makes a referral to social services and Williamson gives a statement to the police.
- January 21 2021: Williamson calls 101 and during the conversation tells the operator the youth defendant had confessed to pushing Logan down the stairs when he fractured his arm.
- June 2021: Social workers in Bridgend remove Logan and his younger sibling from the child protection register - meaning they are no longer considered to be at significant risk of harm.
- July 2021: At some point during the weeks before his death, Logan suffered a broken collarbone. There are no records of the injury being treated.
- July 20 2021: Logan tests positive for Covid-19 and has to self-isolate.
- July 29 2021: Logan is allegedly seriously assaulted by both Cole and the youth, an incident which Williamson claimed included Logan being punched in the stomach by Cole.
- July 30 2021: Williamson allegedly lifts Logan up forcefully by his pyjama top, causing it to rip, and shouts at him to "tell the truth". The same day, social worker Deborah Williams visits the flat but is denied entry, as Logan has Covid-19. She stays for 20 minutes and leaves without seeing or hearing Logan.
- July 31 2021, 2.30am: CCTV shows Cole carrying Logan's body out of the flat and towards the river, while being followed by the youth. They return to the property but leave again to dispose of Logan's ripped pyjama top. At about 5.45am Williamson makes a 999 call to police, claiming to have woken to find Logan missing from the house, and accusing another woman of having taken him. Two police officers searching the nearby park area just after 6am discover Logan's body in the River Ogmore. Logan was allowed to leave self-isolation the day he was found dead.
- April 21 2022
Cole, Williamson and a 14-year-old youth are found guilty at Cardiff Crown Court of murdering Logan.
- June 30 2022
Cole is jailed at Cardiff Crown Court for life with a minimum term of 29 years while Williamson is ordered to serve a minimum of 28 years.
That same day the 14-year-old boy is named as Craig Mulligan after a judge lifts an anonymity order. Mulligan is sentenced to a minimum of 15 years' detention.
- November 24 2022
An extended child practice review commissioned by the Cwm Taf Morgannwg Safeguarding Board finds issues it says might be "systemic" rather than "isolated instances of individual error or poor practice" regarding the handling of the Logan Mwangi case. The board says the boy's voice had not been heard throughout and that there was "no knowledge of the reality of his lived experience".
The board said "significant core learning" had been identified and made a series of local and national recommendations.
They include suggesting the Welsh Government considers commissioning a review of approaches to undertaking Child Protection Conferences to identify effective chairing and facilitation methods and to identify best practice, and the possibility of commissioning an annual National Awareness Campaign to raise public awareness on how to report safeguarding concerns.