Mother, Stepdad, and a Teen Found Guilty of Killing a 5-Year-Old Kenyan-British Boy

A UK court has convicted three people of the murder of five-year-old boy Logan Mwangi whose father is a Kenyan. 

The Cardiff Crown Court found Logan's mother Angharad Williamson (31), his stepfather John Cole (40), and a 14-year-old boy guilty of murdering the deceased. The three abused and killed Logan before dumping his body in River Ogmore, near their home in Pandy Park, Wales on July 31st, 2021.

The body of Logan, whose Kenyan father Benjamin Mwangi works as a bookmaker in the UK, was discovered in the river towards the end of July 2020.

The court said his body had horrendous injuries including 56 external wounds and bruises and internal injuries similar to those witnessed in victims of high-speed car crashes.

During the trial, jurors heard how Logan was treated like a prisoner in the days before his death. On the month he died, the deceased tested positive for Covid-19 and was locked in his bedroom with a baby gate barring him from leaving.

Prosecutor Caroline Rees said Williamson and Cole forced the minor to face the wall when they took him food.

The jury was also told that the 14-year-old teen they were living with had a desire for violence and pushed Logan down the stairs, breaking his arm.

A support worker also heard him singing: "I love to punch kids in the head, it's orgasmic."

“He suffered damage to his brain, liver and stomach. His death would have been slow and painful,” The Guardian reported.

Logan’s father met Williamson in 2010 while she was working as a warehouse manager in Essex, South East England, through mutual acquaintances. They started dating in 2014 and Logan was born on March 15th, 2016.

“I was present when Logan was born and it was the happiest time of my life. I stayed with Claire (Williamson’s mother) for a few weeks but I would clash quite a lot with Claire and did not think it was good for anyone, especially Logan, so I moved back to Brentwood,” Mwangi testified.

“During that period I was in regular contact with Angharad, who would call me and send me pictures of Logan. He was the cutest little boy…We were back and forth visiting each other.”

Mwangi said things changed after Williamson met Cole, who has a criminal record for burglary, assault, resisting arrest, possession of bhang, and impeding the course of justice.

“He held long-standing racist beliefs which could have been relevant to his motives in the attacks on Logan, and he even stopped him from seeing his real father and grandmother,” said Mwangi.

Williamson later phoned Mwangi to inform him that she would cut their communications as her new partner “did not think it was normal” for them to continue speaking.

Mwangi would only communicate with Logan via video call on weekends when the boy was living staying with his grandmother Claire. 

Court documents show that Logan’s suffering began in 2019 when his mother and stepfather locked him in a dark room, denying him food and forcing him to eat only cereals and water for supper.

The boy is said to have shown up at school with mysterious injuries on multiple occasions before he began stammering, wetting himself frequently, and inflicting bodily harm on himself. Teachers reported to social workers to no avail.

Months before Logan’s murder, medical experts raised alarm about his damaged arm, and they contacted the authorities. 

The boy was assigned a social worker, but he was removed a month before his death because the government no longer considered he was facing a major risk to his life.

The 14-year-old’s foster family is said to have discovered knives stashed in his closet on numerous occasions. 

“The youth repeatedly talked about how much he hated Logan and wanted him dead. He didn’t even call him Logan, he called him “the five-year-old”. Social services were told about the threats,” the court heard.

Cole is said to have punched Logan in the stomach, and the 14-year-old swept the boy off his feet with a martial arts move.