The mother of Logan Mwangi made a dramatic transformation to her appearance weeks after murdering him in a bid to prevent people from recognising her. She later told prison inmates she had been offered an "identity change".
Angharad Williamson, 31, was convicted of murdering her five-year-old son along with her partner John Cole, 40, and the couple's stepson Craig Mulligan. The 14-year-old can now be identified for the first time after a judge overturned a reporting restriction that he previously provided him with anonymity. Read more about how the court order was overturned by the media here.
Logan sustained injuries similar to those seen in car crash victims before his death and was dumped in the River Ogmore near his home in Bridgend. The trio were sentenced on Thursday and you can recap the hearing in full here.
On July 31 last year Williamson reported Logan missing to police and gave a melodramatic performance as a distraught mother after his body was found in the river. But CCTV footage revealed Cole and Mulligan had removed Logan's body from 5 Lower Llansantffraid, Sarn, in the dead of night and lights in his bedroom were switched on and off by Williamson.
Read more: The harrowing words of Logan Mwangi's father as he details his recurring nightmare
Williamson was arrested on suspicion of her son's murder on August 1 along with Cole and Mulligan and was remanded in custody to await her first court appearance. Footage taken from ITV documentary The Murder of Logan Mwangi reveals the murderer had bright pink hair upon her arrest. But weeks later she was seen with her hair dyed brown.
The trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard evidence from Joanne Brooks, a serving prisoner at HMP Eastwood Park in Gloucestershire, who was on the same cleaning team as Williamson, who had changed her name to "Angie". Ms Brooks said: "She asked me if she knew who she was, had I heard of her. I hadn’t heard of her, I didn’t know her name or anything about her and she basically told me why I should know who she was…
"She said: ‘Have you heard of the Bridgend baby, the boy who was murdered and thrown in the river? I was his mother’... It was like she was telling me what she had bought from the shops.... She said she was in there for her own protection… She said she had been offered an identity change, dying her hair, changing her name, going from glasses to wearing contact lenses.”
Ms Brooks said Williamson would show her photos of Logan and seemed to revel in the notoriety of being the "the Bridgend baby’s mum". She also said Williamson would give differing accounts about how Logan's injuries had been caused.
She said Williamson told other inmates "the lights would prove her innocence" and after she was charged with murder she called the women on her wing to a meeting. Ms Brook said: "She stood at the end of the table, she announced she had been charged with murder and asked if we would support her because she was going to prove her innocence and she did not kill her child.” Later that evening she described Williamson watching Married at First Sight Australia in her cell and eating snacks and laughing.
Read more:
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Why we can now name the teenage murderer responsible for killing his defenceless stepbrother
- The harrowing words of Logan Mwangi's father as he details his recurring nightmare
- Logan Mwangi's school issue beautiful tribute to 'loving, sweet-natured' boy
During her evidence at the trial Williamson also described being taken to HMP Eastwood Park after being charged with perverting the course of justice. She said: “I turned up, I got bombarded with abuse from the other girls. ‘Child murderer, kill yourself before we kill you, wrong’un, nonce’. I was locked in a cell….I was on [the induction wing] a month because of all the death threats I was getting….. It wasn’t safe, I didn’t come out of my cell for two weeks.”
Williamson was then placed on the medical ward and was on 24-hour watch for a month. She also described what she said prison authorities had told her. Williamson said: “They can’t protect you from everything, they isolated me off from everybody …. They changed my name from Angharad to Angie and where I had bright pink hair they said: 'Dye your hair, here are some glasses, change your image, we’ll try to blend you in as much as we can'.” Williamson said that remained the situation until she was taken to Bristol police station and charged with murder.
The Murder of Logan Mwangi is available on catch-up on the ITV Hub.
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