Logan Mwangi's father had 'no idea' about abuse endured by murdered five-year-old

Watch: Logan Mwangi's dad says losing son "never gets any easier"

Logan Mwangi's biological father has said losing his son "never gets easier" as he launches a campaign to ensure parents are notified when their children are identified by social services as at risk.

The five-year-old's body was discovered submerged in the River Ogmore in Pandy Park, Bridgend, on the morning of 31 July last year.

Logan's mother, stepfather and 14-year-old stepbrother have since been jailed for carrying out his murder at their home in Lower Llansantffraid, Sarn.

Benjamin Mwangi has now launched a campaign for a "Logan's law", which would ensure absent parents are notified if their child is placed on the child protection register

Read more: Logan Mwangi - Killer teen, 14, told mum to 'f**k off' in police interview

Logan and his younger sibling were placed on the child protection register in March 2021 after concerns were raised about his mother Angharad Williamson’s boyfriend John Cole, who had previous convictions for violence.

In June 2021, just a month before Logan’s death, they were removed from the register – meaning it was believed there was no longer a risk of significant harm.

Mr Mwangi, who lives in Brentwood, Essex, said he had been co-parenting Logan with Williamson, who moved to south Wales shortly before Logan’s birth in March 2016 to be closer to her mother.

But he said Williamson cut off contact and "everything completely changed" after she began a relationship with Cole in 2019.

Mr Mwangi continued to have occasional telephone contact with Logan during visits with his grandmother, Williamson’s mother, at weekends.

However, that soon ended when Williamson stopped Logan visiting her mother.

“Because I hadn’t seen Logan in so long, I had absolutely no knowledge, or no idea, about what was going on. I had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about what was happening to Logan,” Mr Mwangi told Good Morning Britain.

“This is exactly what Logan’s Law is going to be about – to let estranged parents like myself actually know when their child has gone to social services.

On Thursday, Craig Mulligan was jailed for life with a minimum of 15 years for killing Logan Mwangi, whose body was discovered in the River Ogmore on 31 July last year.

Mulligan carried out the fatal assault with his stepfather, John Cole, in the flat where they lived in Lower Llansantffraid, Sarn.

Angharad Williamson, Mulligan's stepmother and Logan's biological mother was also convicted after the judge found she stood by and “did nothing” to prevent the killing.

At a hearing in March, pathologist John Williams told a jury Logan had injuries, some of which had been inflicted weeks before.

Logan had suffered such severe injuries that they would have been expected in someone who had been in a road accident or had fallen from a height, Williams added.

Mr Mwangi said despite the distance from his son, he would have raced to be at his side if he'd known what risk he was at.

"100% I would have been the first one there (had I known)," he told the ITV show.

"They (social services) would have looked at his injuries and thought that he wouldn't have self-inflicted them, there are three people in the house so this is obviously a dangerous environment, we need to contact his father and let him know what happened.

"But I had absolutely no idea what was happening to my son."

He added: "If I would have had any inkling whatsoever that Logan was known I would have got him.

"I would have gone with a police escort or worked with social services and I would have said: 'Okay I'm getting my son's things and I'm taking him away from this obviously hostile environment. If he is in danger then let's make him safe.'

"But for the fact that I didn't know – which is one of the big questions that is going to be asked in the child protection review – is going to be why wasn't I contacted."