Charitable trust legacy gives Georgia Williams' grieving parents hope and support
The parents of murdered Shropshire teenager Georgia Williams today said that while her killer will remain behind bars for life, a trust set up in her name has given them their lives back.
Stephen and Lynnette Williams, from Telford, told of their relief at the Court of Appeal's ruling that those who have committed the most heinous crimes will continue to be locked up for life in the UK.
Sexual deviant Jamie Reynolds, 23, is serving a whole life term for murdering 17-year-old Georgia in a meticulously planned fulfilment of his morbid fascination with hanging.
Georgia's parents, from Wellington, today told the Shropshire Star why the legal victory is an important step in getting justice for the victims of Britain's most depraved killers.
The Georgia Williams Trust:
www.thegeorgiawilliamstrust.org
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"Georgia's case, not just from just our point of view, but from a criminal and justice point of view is a really important case because Reynolds was one of the few extremely dangerous people," said Mr Williams, who has taken the brave step of returning to work part time as a detective constable with West Mercia Police.
"Life should mean life," he said. "It's the most serious punishment that anybody can get in this country and that's because it's for the most serious crimes.
"If you give them anything less than that, it's devaluing the life of the victim. Reynolds' value of Georgia's life was to kill her in terrifying circumstances to gain a few minutes of gratuitous sexual pleasure.
"That is how much Georgia's life was worth to him – more or less nothing. From the victim's point of view we've got to have proper justice.
Planned
"If you think how meticulously planned Reynolds' murder was – he had thought about it, written about it, planned it for four months.
"It was sheer evil, for his own pleasure. If he thinks that someone else's life is that cheap then his life should be that cheap as well."
Mrs Williams said they were both strongly for capital punishment.
"He shouldn't be alive now," she said.
He husband added: "We've got to have deterrents in place to say, this is the law, if you commit these vile crimes you could face death. They have a choice. Georgia had no choice. She wouldn't have chosen to die that day by being lynched by him."
And the pair regret that although their daughter's killer has been deprived of his liberty he will still enjoy many aspects of life which he stole from Georgia.
"He will settle in, he will share cells with people who have done similar kinds of things and they will share stories to relive that pleasure, said Stephen.
"He's got basically every human right in there – he's got his life, he will be cosseted for the rest of his life. He will have freedom to educate himself, to exercise, entertainment, food, everything. He can telephone his mum and dad, they can visit him, they can send him birthday cards, he can hug them and smile at them. We can't. We will never see that again.
"The last Father's Day card I will ever get off Georgia was in 2012 because he killed her 10 days before Father's Day. I will never have that last smile or that last hug."
The couple wrote to MP for the Wrekin Mark Pritchard as well as Prime Minster David Cameron to state their case for the continuation of the whole-life tariff.
"They did write back to say they were pushing for the full life term to be kept," said Mrs Williams. "We were really, really pleased with the outcome because I don't want him being let out again because he will just do it again." But while Reynolds spends the rest of his life behind bars, charity work in Georgia's memory is giving her family something to live for.
Headed up by chairman Richard Langton, the Georgia Williams Trust has raised £42,000 to help young people free their spirit and join in, just as the enthusiastic teenager did.
Mr Langton said: "My concern was the story would end with the sentencing and how are we going to keep people stepping up for the charity. But I was worrying unnecessarily because we've had more people getting involved than ever before. Sadly there will be other stories of other tragedies but in this little town and borough I don't need to worry about people forgetting the trust."
Mr Williams said: "I've always been a strong personality, healthy and fit and took things in my stride but this really, really knocked me flying. I'm not ashamed to say that but at the end of the day I'm her dad and I really, really miss her deeply.
"People use the word devastated but it isn't enough. It destroys your life. It will never, ever be the same.
"But when you've got the trust and you hear Georgia's name coming up and people doing things because they believe in the things that our Georgia did that's a tremendous source of support and hope."
