Shropshire Star

Police staff in Georgia Williams case face misconduct meetings

Misconduct meetings examining the actions of police officers investigating Jamie Reynolds before he killed Telford teenager Georgia Williams have started this week.

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Georgia Williams

The meetings, which are taking place behind closed doors, are being held following an independent investigation by Devon and Cornwall Police and a subsequent appeal by the victims to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

The appeal had called for stronger measures to be taken against some of those involved and resulted in an extra officer being asked to attend a meeting.

Four West Mercia Police officers and one member of police staff will be subject to misconduct meetings. The last meeting is expected to be held by the end of the month.

Jamie Reynolds

A police spokeswoman said the officers would not be publicly named and said the maximum punishment available would be a final written warning.

A serious case review published last month revealed that Reynolds had been known to police and other agencies for more than five years before he killed Georgia. Reynolds was jailed in December 2013 after admitting murdering Georgia in Wellington in May 2013.

Following an attack on a 16-year-old girl in 2008, Reynolds had regular contact with the West Mercia Youth Offender Service, Children and Adolescent Mental health Service and the NSPCC.

He was found to have defaced images of girls he knew, drawing nooses around their necks, and had spent years watching violent pornography – including images where women were hanged.

Mental health workers described him as a "significant risk" but his case was closed in 2010.

An appeal against his whole life sentence for murdering Georgia was rejected at the Royal Courts of Justice last year.

Georgia's family have called for the Devon and Cornwall Police report to be made public and have promised to keep the pressure on police to make sure such failings are not repeated.

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