Parents of murdered teenager Georgia Williams condemn 'incompetent' officers

The parents of murdered Shropshire teenager Georgia Williams have called for "a totally independent" police complaints system as the results of misconduct proceedings against officers who bungled an inquiry into their daughter's killer are published.

Steven and Lynnette Williams, whose 17-year-old daughter Georgia was murdered in 2013 also condemned the "incompetent" police officers involved in investigating her killer Jamie Reynolds.

Misconduct proceeding were brought by the force after a report highlighting West Mercia's part in handling a 2008 incident in which Reynolds was found to have attempted to strangle a 16-year-old girl at home.

The results will be published later today.

Reynolds was let off with a final written warning and offered counselling andis serving a whole life sentence for the Shropshire teenager's murder.

All of the officers involved in the 2008 investigation will keep their jobs asthe force did not judge their failings to have amounted to gross misconduct.

But commenting on the misconduct process, Georgia's parents said: "We have known for a long time that the consequences for these officers would by no means 'fit the crime'"

Her parents "likened the misconduct meeting to a group of junior schoolchildren being told off by the headmaster" and called on the system to beoverhauled.

They added: "We have witnessed a system that is lenient beyond belief - that does not take into account the tragic consequences of Georgia's murder, even though it is agreed by several different authorities that the officers' actions, or lack of actions, does have a link to Georgia's murder."