Georgia Williams' parents seek 'totally independent' police complaints system
The parents of murdered teenager Georgia Williams today called for "a totally independent" police complaints system as the results of misconduct proceedings against serving officers who bungled an inquiry into their daughter's killer were published.
Steven and Lynnette Williams, whose 17-year-old daughter Georgia was murdered in 2013, also criticised the "incompetent" police officers involved in investigating her killer Jamie Reynolds.
Misconduct proceedings were brought after a critical report highlighting West Mercia's part in handling Reynolds after an incident in 2008 in which he was found to have attempted to strangle a 16-year-old girl at home. Reynolds was let off with a final written warning. He is now serving a whole life sentence for Shropshire teenager Georgia's murder.
All of the officers involved in the 2008 investigation will keep their jobs as the force did not judge their failings to have amounted to gross misconduct.
Chief Inspector Richard Langton, former chairman of the Georgia Williams Trust, managed the 2008 investigation in Wellington, Shropshire, and will receive management advice. He was promoted to chief inspector in the West Mercia force in 2014.
The officer in charge Constable Faye Osmund-Smith will also receive management advice.
Detective Sergeant Joanne Delehay, who supervised Constable Osmund-Smith will receive a written warning.
Louise Hill, the police staff member who made the decision to give Reynolds a final warning will also receive a written warning.
Commenting on the misconduct process, Georgia's parents said in a statement: "We have known for a long time that the consequences for these officers would by no means 'fit the crime'.
"What has happened is that the officers concerned have been shown to be incompetent at all ranks. We take this as a moral victory on behalf of Georgia, because that is what this was all about.
"It was also about a group of officers who came together in numbers and all made the wrong decisions. Georgia died because the suspect had more rights than the victim."
Mr and Mrs Williams likened the misconduct meeting to a group of junior school children being told off by the headmaster and called for the system to be overhauled.
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, do have a link to Georgia's murder."
The couple also claimed officers had passed the blame over their responsibilities.
They said: "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. We heard excuses but no real reasons.
"The system does not allow for inquisitive questioning, excuses are what you get and nothing else.
"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.
"We live in a blameless society, which if it continues will be to the detriment of all that tolerate it."
They added: "It's a very expensive lesson when victims pay with their lives.
"It is about time the wrong-doers paid a higher price for their incompetence but, it seems throughout all this, that the people in charge are prepared to accept low standards."
Mr Williams, himself a serving police officer, had previously called on the force to publish a further report prepared by Devon and Cornwall Police which Georgia's parents said highlighted mistakes "10 times worse" than those identified by October's serious case review.
The independent Devon and Cornwall report, given to the West Mercia force in March, led directly to the misconduct meetings whose outcomes are now expected to be published by the force.
