Neighbours want flat where Logan Mwangi was murdered to be demolished

‘Demolish’ house of horrors where little Logan Mwangi was murdered: Neighbours want Welsh council flat bulldozed after five-year-old was killed by mother, stepfather and stepbrother

• Little Logan Mwangi, 5, was murdered by his mother, stepfather and stepbrother
• The killer trio are now serving life sentences with combined minimum of 72 years
• Community is divided over the future of the council-owned home where he died 

Neighbours will be consulted on the future of the council flat where five-year-old Logan Mwangi was murdered by his family.

‘Informal conversations’ with local residents will be taken into account in the decision-making, according to the housing association managing the property but a final decision has yet to be made.

Logan was found dead on July 31 last year in the River Ogmore in Sarn, Bridgend.

His mother Angharad Williamson, 31, stepfather 40-year-old John Cole and stepbrother Craig Mulligan, 14, were found guilty of his murder and jailed for a combined 72 years.

The schoolboy – who was just 3ft 5in and weighed 3st at the time of his death – was tortured, starved and forced to do push-ups until he collapsed. 

Logan had suffered 56 external cuts and bruises, and ‘catastrophic’ internal injuries likened to a high-speed road accident, caused by a ‘brutal and sustained assault’ in the hours, or days, prior to his death. 

Neighbours in the community will be consulted on the future of the council flat (pictured above) in Bridgend where five-year-old Logan Mwangi was murdered by his family last year

Stepfather John Cole, 40, (left) and mother Angharad Williamson, 31, (right) were both jailed for life last month and will have to serve minimum terms of 29 years and 28 years respectively

The five-year-old had been ‘kept like a prisoner’ in his small bedroom – likened by his mother to a ‘dungeon’ – with a baby gate barring him from leaving after he tested positive for Covid-19

Experts said his injuries were ‘consistent with child abuse’ and prosecutors said in the months and weeks leading up to his death, Logan had been ‘dehumanised’ by his family.

A serious case review has now been launched into the tragedy by the local council. 

A decision is yet to be made on the fate of the Lower Llansantffraid home which has been boarded up since shortly after the murder.

Logan and Williamson had lived in the ground-floor flat and another tenant was upstairs.

Valleys To Coast Housing, which manages the building, said in a statement: ‘Whilst we have awaited the formal conclusion of this tragic case and subsequent closure of the two tenancies involved we have had informal conversations with people in the local community and will continue to be sensitive to their needs and feelings.

‘We are currently in discussions with Bridgend County Borough Council about next steps.’

Craig Mulligan (left), who has been convicted of the murder of Logan Mwangi (right). The youth’s identity can be revealed after the judge in the case lifted an anonymity order

Back in 2014 the Welsh Government bought and then later demolished the Ceinws cottage where paedophile Mark Bridger had murdered five-year-old April Jones.

At the time a family friend of her parents said the demolition of the house would help ‘heal a huge wound’ felt by the whole town. 

Her parents said they were glad to see the destruction of the ‘house of evil’.

Some of Logan’s neighbours spoke to WalesOnline earlier this year about what they felt should happen to his former home.

Colin Michael Fitzgerald, 79, said a ‘complete refurbishment’ rather than demolition would be the best option.

‘It’s got to be painted top to bottom and the garden put to a nice standard and someone will be more than glad of it,’ he said.

Logan Mwangi, 5, was killed in the flat which could be demolished by the local council

The photo shows Angharad Williamson and her fiance Jay Cole, the mother and stepfather of Logan Mwangi, aged five, who was found dead in the Ogmore River near Pandy Park last year

Another of Logan’s neighbours, 33-year-old Dafydd, said he would like to see a memorial bench installed but also believed it was important to think about the need for homes, especially for people fleeing war-torn countries.

He added: ‘I would rather it go to a loving family and someone who will have happy memories in it because God knows what memories are in there now.’

Adrian Pittard, 61, of Aberkenfig, said: ‘I know the circumstances are bad but it’s still a property and lots of people haven’t got one.

‘You can’t just brick it up. I don’t know if anyone local would want to live there but someone from further afield might.’

During the attack, Logan suffered injuries likened to those usually seen in car crash victims before his body was tossed into the river by Cole and Mulligan.

As well as the murder convictions, Williamson and Mulligan were found guilty of perverting the course of justice, which Cole had admitted.

Cole was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 29 years in jail while Williamson to life imprisonment with a minimum of 28 years, and Mulligan was jailed 15 years as well as remaining on licence for life.

More often than not, houses connected to notorious killings are demolished, in a bid to destroy the memories which will forever be associated with that site.

The move is largely to stop ghoulish souvenir-hunters plundering the house and garden for relics of the notorious crimes – but there is also the reality that most people do not want to live in a home with such sinister connotations.

Other killers’ homes that have been demolished include the Cambridgeshire home of Ian Huntley which was knocked down in 2004 after he murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman and the home of serial killers Fred and Rose West in Gloucester which was demolished in 1996.

 

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