Mother of Georgia Williams welcomes decision to uphold police worker's final warning

The police worker who made the decision to give Reynolds a final warning following an assault on another teenage girl in 2008 was given a written warning following a misconduct hearing.

She appealed the decision but at a misconduct panel this week officials decided to keep the written warning in place.

A serious case review found that serious failings by police, social workers and mental health professionals contributed to the murder of 17-year-old Georgia .

Reynolds had been known to police and other agencies for more than five years before the fatal attack.

But they failed to act and a case file on him was closed in 2010, three years before he strangled Georgia.

Her mother Lynnette Williams slammed the "audacity" of the staff member for refusing to accept the punishment.

Mrs Williams said: "It is disgusting that she had the audacity to go to appeal against the written warning.

"We heard this week that the panel agreed to stand by the decision so we are happy with that.

"She should have just accepted it like all the others did.

"To be honest, as we said at the time, it was not a particularly harsh punishment that any of them got, but we knew that was all they were going to get."

An investigation, dubbed Operation Columbia, was launched by Devon and Cornwall Police into the handling of Jamie Reynolds in the years prior to Georgia's murder.

A total of nine police officers and the staff member were investigated as part of the probe.

Reynolds first came to the attention of police when, aged 17, he lured a girl back to his house in Avondale Road, Wellington, Telford.

He used the pretence of a photo shoot and tried to strangle her in an attack that mirrored Georgia's murder. But he faced no charges over the incident.

The attack came to light at Stafford Crown Court when Reynolds, now 24, was sentenced to a whole-life term in prison for killing Georgia.

The staff member was interviewed as part of Operation Columbia in February 2015, in relation to decision making following an assault made by Reynolds in 2008.

During that interview, the police worker said that even if she had known entries made into the file on the incident could had been "erronious and misleading, she did not believe this would have changed the decision she made at the time."

Alexa Collicott, a spokeswoman for West Mercia Police said: "Following any misconduct process the individual involved has a right to appeal the decision made. An appeal was made in relation to a member of police staff who was subject to a written warning following an independent investigation into West Mercia Police's management of Jamie Reynolds.

"The appeals process concluded yesterday, Wednesday February 3, and the outcome was that the written warning would remain in place."

Reynolds appealed his life sentence but it was refused.

Mrs Williams has called for the Government and the police to make a totally independent police complaints system.