Logan Mwangi: Teenager moving rubbish hours before body was found, court told

A teenager was moving rubbish, hours before a body of a five-year-old boy was found in a river, a court has heard.

Logan Mwangi, also known as Logan Williamson, was discovered in the River Ogmore in Sarn, Bridgend, on the morning of July 31 2021.

He had suffered catastrophic injuries likened to those found on victims of high-speed crashes or a fall from a height.

CCTV footage shown to a jury at Cardiff Crown Court captured Logan's stepfather John Cole, 40, carrying the boy's lifeless body out of a flat in Lower Llansantffraid and towards the river a few hours before.

A 14-year-old, who cannot be legally identified, can be seen following closely behind.

On Monday (March 28), the jury was read the interviews he gave to South Wales Police in which he repeatedly denied harming Logan or knowing what had happened to him.

He is on trial for Logan's murder, alongside Cole and Logan's mother Angharad Williamson, 30.

In his initial interviews the teenager said he had woken up and followed Cole outside while he was taking three black bags down to the river apparently to fly-tip - an exercise he said they had done previously to avoid paying for the rubbish to be removed.

He later accepted Cole had not been carrying bin bags that night but Logan's body, after detectives informed him Cole had confessed to disposing of the youngster's body.

But the youth maintained that at the time he believed what Cole had thrown into the river were bin bags full of "polystyrene and broken toys".

The teenager also denied hearing Angharad Williamson begin to cry and become hysterical when it is alleged by Cole that she found Logan dead in bed.

When he was confronted with the account had given to the police in which he said he had been awake and reacting to what was going on, he said he thought the shouting in the house "was a dream".

Asked to explain what happened, he said he tried to go into Logan's bedroom but was stopped by Cole and Williamson.

"I was trying to see because I heard (Williamson) say 'He's dead', and I wanted to see if he was OK and he weren't," he added.

When told about Logan's injuries, which included a large tear to his liver, another to his small bowel and a broken collarbone, the teenager said he did not know how they had happened.

He said he thought bruising to the area above Logan's eye may have been caused when the boy threw a dinosaur toy which bounced off the wall and hit his face.

He added that the day before, he saw Williamson grab Logan by his t-shirt, which ripped, then shake him and shout at him to "tell the truth".

Asked if he, Cole or Williamson had ever punched, hit or kicked Logan the youth said: "No, never."

In interviews Williamson gave to the police she said Cole had assaulted Logan, punching him "three or four times to the stomach" and that he "went flying".

She said Cole had encouraged the youth to join in and "sweep" Logan's legs from under him the next time the young boy "flinched".

Williamson added that Cole had said: "The only way this boy understands is pain."

The teenager said Williamson's statements were false, adding: "I did not see (Cole) lay a finger on him."

At the end of his final interview, when asked if he had anything to add, the youth said: "You can tell (Angharad Williamson) to f*** off for me.

"She's just saying whatever she wants to get out of the f****** cells."

All three defendants deny murdering Logan, and Williamson and the youth also deny perverting the course of justice, which Cole has admitted.

Both adults also deny a third charge of causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues at Cardiff Crown Court.