The teenage killer of innocent schoolboy Logan Mwangi has now been named following an application from the media after the three murderers were locked up for a combined 72 years. Ever since he first appeared in court charged with Logan's murder killer Craig Mulligan has been anonymised in media reporting.
The identity of the 14-year-old, who was just 13 at the time of the killing, was protected by a court order under Section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 due to the defendant being under 18 years old and legally considered a juvenile. This prevented the publication of his name, address, identity of school or educational establishment he attended, any place of work, or a still or moving image of him.
Once the guilty verdict had been delivered by the jury an application was made by representatives of the media to revoke the Section 45 order. This was then put back to be dealt with at the same time as the sentencing hearing. Following the sentencing of Cole, Williamson, and Mulligan the trial judge agreed to this application due to the serious nature of the conviction and Mulligan’s identity could be reported.
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During a hearing on Thursday prior to the sentencing of the defendants Jude Bunting QC, representing the media organisations which had sought to challenge the restriction remaining in force, said maintaining the order amounted to a "substantial and unreasonable" restriction on reporting the case.
Mr Bunting said the court needed to exercise judgement on the impact on the privacy and welfare of Mulligan in coming to its decision, with "great weight" attached to that, but added the "danger" of overlooking open justice had to be avoided. He argued there was a threshold of "absolute necessity" for anonymity and referred to other cases where criminals under the age of 18 had been identified after being convicted of serious offences.
He argued there was no evidence naming the defendant would lead to any psychiatric injury to him and argued members of the public would be better able come to terms with the tragic events if they know the full facts because there's a risk of speculation otherwise. Mr Bunting also stated that naming offenders has a deterrent effect.
John Hipkin QC, representing Mulligan, said it was a "balancing exercise" and argued there was a real risk both to the defendant's safety and also his prospects of rehabilitation if he was named.. "The local authority is hopeful significant work will be undertaken with Craig while he is incarcerated which would be undermined if he is subject to harassment, violence, and persecution," the barrister added.
Delivering her conclusion in respect of the reporting restriction covering Craig Mulligan the judge, Mrs Justice Jefford, said: “A crucial part of the case is the family dynamics and his relationship with the adult defendants and Logan. Evidence heard at trial was that Craig idolised his father and his attitude towards Logan and involvement in his death was to a great extent driven by that relationship. A central aspect of the narrative leading up to Logan’s death was how Craig Mulligan came to be in the family home and the correlation of his role in Logan’s death.”
She considered representations made by Mulligan’s barrister John Hipkin QC that publication of the defendant’s name could lead to risks of physical attacks or suicide attempts. The court heard Mulligan was assaulted at his placement before his conviction after someone discovered his identity.
Mrs Justice Jefford continued: “There’s a significant gap in any understanding of this case and the circumstances of Logan’s death…. There is a real risk of ill-informed information or a vacuum in that part of the case. This was a very serious offence involving a brutal and ferocious assault on a small child in the home where he should have been safe. [Mulligan’s] involvement was in my view significant.
“I have sentenced him on the basis he inflicted physical injuries on Logan and participated in the callous plan to dispose of his body in the river along with the pyjama top and along with John Cole participated in pretending to look for him. He gave a complex but untruthful tale about what happened…
“The attack on Logan that led to his death was wholly different nature and level of seriousness to anything that had or may have happened before, a few days after Craig Mulligan had been returned to the family home from foster care. This reinforces the submission the family dynamic was an important aspect of this case that needs to be understood. It is in the public interest to understand how and why that took place. There is due to be a safeguarding review in the public interest and reporting of it will be difficult with an inability to report the familial relationship.”
During the trial it was heard how Mulligan played his part in Logan’s death and the cover-up which saw the young boy’s body dumped in the River Ogmore in Bridgend. The youth was seen on CCTV accompanying Cole, who was carrying Logan’s body, to the river from Williamson’s home at Lower Llansantffraid, in Sarn, in the early hours of July 31, 2021. He also assisted in discarding Logan’s ripped dinosaur pyjama in a second trip to the area near the River Ogmore and after daybreak he and Cole walked the streets shouting Logan’s name – having dumped his body in the river just hours earlier.
Logan died just a week after Mulligan came to live at Lower Llansantffraid after the family courts awarded custody of the teenager to Cole with the support of Williamson. It was later claimed by Williamson he had already admitted pushing Logan downstairs, causing him to break his arm, though during Thursday’s sentencing hearing judge Mrs Justice Jefford said she had not taken this into account as the evidence was “thoroughly unsatisfactory”.
He was placed into Logan’s home just five days before the murder after Cole and Williamson were granted custody of him. He had spent the previous six months in care and was heard making threats to kill Logan – who he referred to as “the five-year-old”.
Two days before Logan’s body was recovered from the river Mulligan was said by Williamson to have attacked her son along with Cole. The court heard Cole punched Logan to the stomach two or three times and told Mulligan to “let him have it”.
Mulligan, who was trained in Muay Thai, was said to have swept Logan’s feet, knocking him to the floor while pressing his head against the floor. He was also said to have told his foster family he wanted to kill Logan.
Mulligan was found guilty of Logan’s murder at Cardiff Crown Court on April 21. He was sentenced alongside Cole and Williamson on Thursday when he was handed a life term with a minimum of 15 years.
