Mother who murdered 5-year-old Logan Mwangi hires ex-cop to challenge conviction
Angharad Williamson is currently serving a life sentence for killing her son alongside her partner John Cole and his stepson Craig Mulligan in 2021
The mother of murdered 5-year-old Logan Mwangi has enlisted a former police officer to review her case and challenge her conviction.
Listen to this article
Angharad Williamson, 35, is currently serving a life sentence for killing her son alongside her partner John Cole and his stepson Craig Mulligan at their home in Sarn, Bridgend in July 2021.
Logan died after months of violent abuse and being kept like a prisoner before his body was dumped in a nearby river like “fly-tipped rubbish”.
Williamson had denied Logan's murder and cover-up insisting she was asleep when Cole and Mulligan were captured on CCTV carrying his body to the river.
But evidence at the trial showed she had been on her phone throughout the night and neighbours' cameras had captured lights at the property being turned on and off when no one else was present.
A pre-inquest review into Logan’s death took place on Wednesday at the South Wales Central Coroner’s Court in Pontypridd before coroner David Regan.
Williamson attended the hearing via video link from HMP Downview and accompanied by a mental health worker.
She chose not to speak but was represented in the court by former British Transport Police officer Tony Thompson who applied to the coroner to be named an interested person in the case.
Mr Thompson revealed he had been requested by Williamson to look into her case to see if she can lodge an appeal to the criminal cases review commission.
A previous bid to the Court of Appeal to overturn her conviction was thrown out in January 2023.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Thompson said he was carrying out the investigation “pro-bono”, or free of charge.
“Angharad pleaded not guilty at the trial, and she's been protesting her innocence ever since,” he said.
“I thought when I had a look at the case and listened to her and spoke to her and spent many hours going through why she thinks she was wrongfully convicted - I do think there is some merit in the case.
“It's all about the evidence, what was available, how it was presented at trial. Is there anything new? Was there any flaws in the previous evidence that was put forward?
“The judge made it very clear in her sentencing remarks that Angharad did not assault Logan at all and played no part in that, but that she must have known what was going on. So that's the area that I'm looking at in some detail.
“It's a very complex and difficult case, and obviously a tragic loss of young Logan's life,” he added.
“I can understand why people may feel upset about this because she stands convicted of murder and was sentenced to 28 years for her part in it. But equally she has a right to challenge her conviction.
“There's a long way to go before we get to that stage. But she believes she didn't do it, and if she didn't do it, she shouldn't have been convicted.”
The nine-week trial that took place at Cardiff Crown Court in 2022 heard harrowing details of how Logan was confined to his tiny bedroom - likened to “a dungeon” - behind a locked child gate in the days before his death.
When he would try and leave the room to interact with his family Williamson and Cole would repeatedly punish him - causing Logan to begin self-harming.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees KC told the trial: "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?"
Ms Rees said Logan had been “dehumanised” by all three defendants.
She said Logan had been subjected to a “brutal and sustained” beating by Cole and Mulligan which resulted in 56 “catastrophic”, including a torn liver and bowel. Injuries likened to those inflicted by a high-speed road accident.
A full inquest into the young boy’s death is expected to take place later this year.