Parents of murdered Georgia Williams hit out at police disciplinary measures

Steve and Lynette Williams criticise lack of gross misconduct charges for officers and staff member over failings by West Mercia

The parents of a teenager who was sadistically murdered following a deeply flawed police inquiry have described disciplinary proceedings against four officers and one staff member as “lenient beyond belief”.

Georgia Williams, 17, was killed by Jamie Reynolds, who had an obsession with violent pornography, after he was let off by police with a warning for a previous serious attack.

A serious case review published last month heavily criticised West Mercia police officers and other agencies who dealt with Reynolds. But none of the officers or staff involved faced a charge of gross misconduct, which can lead to dismissal.

Instead they were subject to less serious “misconduct meetings”. It emerged on Wednesday that one officer and one police staff member received a written warning, and two officers are to be given “management advice”.

Georgia’s parents, former police detective Steve Williams and his wife, Lynette, said: “We have witnessed a system that is lenient beyond belief – that does not take into account the tragic consequences of Georgia’s murder.”

They said in a statement: “We likened the misconduct meeting to a group of junior school children being told off by the headmaster. That is the system and it will remain so until someone with old-fashioned values, ethics, moral standards and a backbone stands up and changes things.“It’s a very expensive lesson when victims pay with their lives. It is about time the wrongdoers paid a higher price for their incompetence.”

Georgia’s parents said they had heard “excuses but no real reasons”, and argued that the disciplinary system did not allow for proper, detailed questioning. “Excuses are what you get and nothing else,” the couple said.

They claimed that a group of officers had all made the wrong decisions over Reynolds, adding: “Georgia died because the suspect had more rights than the victims.”

They also claimed that none of the officers had accepted they did wrong. “What we haven’t witnessed in any one of these officers is the moral steel needed to put their shoulders back and say ‘I did wrong’.”

A “totally independent” police complaints system should be introduced, they added.

In 2013, shop worker Reynolds lured talented headgirl Georgia to his home in Wellington, Shropshire, while his family were away and hanged her. He took pictures of the moments before she died and after her death, stripped her, violated her body and took more images. He later dumped her body in woodland. Reynolds was convicted of murder and handed a rare whole-life term.

A discretionary serious case review exposed a series of failings. In 2008, when he was 17, Reynolds invited a 16-year-old girl to his home on the pretence of her helping with a media project – the same ruse he used with Georgia. He tried to strangle her, but she fought him off and he was reported to police.

Officers decided he had committed assault occasioning actual bodily harm and issued him with a final warning. Reynolds’ parents went to police telling them that he used violent pornography and showed officers pictures of three girls in school uniform, on which the teenager had drawn nooses around their necks. But no further action was taken. The review said police had a “blinkered” approach to the case.

Reynolds again came to the attention of police in August 2011, when he rammed a colleague’s car after she rejected his advances. No checks were made on the police information system about his past, meaning he was not connected to the 2008 attack.

A report on the case was prepared by Devon and Cornwall police, which led to the misconduct meetings.

West Mercia police said: “It was determined that there were errors made by some individuals in relation to efficiency, attention to detail, management control and supervision. The errors did not relate to wider issues of safeguarding and there was no identifiable causal link between officers’ actions in 2008 and Georgia’s tragic murder in 2013.”

Ch Const David Shaw said: “I have made a heartfelt apology to Georgia’s parents and to victims of Jamie Reynolds for the errors that West Mercia police made. Our thoughts have remained with them throughout this process and we have strived to work with them to seek and provide answers to their understandable questions.

“We have already made significant changes to our working practices but we are determined that it does not end here. We will not stop in our commitment to ensuring every member of our workforce has the right tools and support needed to ensure that, with our partners, everything feasible is done to protect people from harm.”

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaK2bYrumw9JoaWlpZWS7sMKOa2xon5Wkv6i1wGauoqScnq6uv4ymrKuclad6sa3RnqWtq12Yv6rAyJygrJ1drLK0wIymnKubmZZ6sbvLopqeZZSewKS1z6Wgp5mirnquscCsrKudow%3D%3D