his mother and stepfather of five-year-old Logan Mwangi, whose battered body was found dumped in a river, are going to find out how long they will spend in jail for killing him.
John Cole, 40, Angharad Williamson, 31, and a 14-year-old boy, who could not be named because of his age, will be sentenced in Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday after being convicted of Logan’s murder.
Both Williamson and the youth were convicted of a further charge of perversion of justice – a crime that Cole admitted before trial.
Mrs Justice Jefford will impose life sentences but must set the minimum term of detention that each accused must serve before they can apply for parole.
Logan, a formerly “smiling, cheerful boy”, was discovered on the morning of 31 July 2021 in the Ogmore River in Pandy Park, Bridgend, South Wales.
Police found him partially underwater, wearing dinosaur pajama pants and a Spider-Man top, just 250 meters from his home.
During the trial, Cardiff Crown Court heard the young man sustained 56 external cuts and bruises, and “catastrophic” internal injuries, which were compared to a high-speed road accident.
Experts said the injuries could only have been caused by a “brutal and sustained assault” inflicted on Logan in the hours, or days, before his death. They also said the injuries were “consistent with child abuse.”
In the months and weeks before his death, Logan was “dehumanized” by his family, prosecutors said.
Logan’s stuttering is said to have worsened, particularly around Cole. He watered himself more frequently and began to injure himself.
Friends of the couple said Cole told them he did not like Logan, and others said his attitude changed after he became obsessed with the idea that Williamson cheated on Logan’s father, Ben Mwangi.
After Williamson gave birth to Cole’s own child, Cole was reluctant to show Logan the baby and later claimed the boy tried to suffocate the baby.
Medici made a protection reference to police after Logan broke an arm in August 2020.
By March, due to concerns about Cole, Logan and his younger brother or sister had been assigned their own social worker.
In June, a month before Logan’s death, the family was removed from the child protection register – meaning there was no longer a risk of significant harm.
A foster family with whom the youth stayed claimed that he heard him say he wanted to kill Logan.
A support worker also heard the youth sing: “I love children, I f ****** love children, I like to hit children in the head, it’s orgasmic.”
Logan suffered a broken collarbone weeks before his death, but medical treatment was never sought for him.
On July 20, Logan tested positive for Covid-19 and he was locked in his bedroom with a baby gate that prevented him from leaving.
Prosecutor Caroline Rees QC said: “He was detained like a prisoner in his small bedroom in the apartment you saw, a room that Williamson compares to a dungeon.”