Police officers, children’s services staff and mental health workers have been strongly criticised over their dealings with a violent young man fascinated with extreme pornography who went on to sadistically murder a 17-year-old girl.
Jamie Reynolds, who is serving a rare whole-life term for the murder of Georgia Williams, came to the notice of police and a number of other agencies five years before the killing when he attempted to strangle another girl after inviting her to his house under the pretence of working on a project – the same ruse he used on Williams when she died.
She fought him off and Reynolds received a warning from police. No further action was taken, even after his parents told officers that Reynolds was fascinated with violent pornography and had drawn nooses on to images of girls he knew.
A serious case review published on Wednesday criticised West Mercia police over the investigation into the earlier attack, and said other agencies that had contact with Reynolds and his first victim had failed to work together. The report concluded: “The confused and uncoordinated approach to the case meant there was an element of misinformation operating between the agencies”, adding that work appeared to take place in “silos”.
Georgia’s parents, former police detective Steve Williams and his wife, Lynette, said they wept when they read about the “disastrous” approach the agencies took. “Having lost Georgia to pure evil, we cried when we read this report and the failings of all agencies involved, because it was so obvious that Reynolds was, if not one already, a murderer in the making. Georgia’s death could have been prevented.”
The chief constable of West Mercia police, David Shaw, apologised to Georgia’s family. He said much had changed in the way the force dealt with such cases, but conceded there was still more to do. Five misconduct hearings relating to police officers and staff involved in the case are scheduled to take place in November.
Laura Johnston, director for children and family services at Telford and Wrekin council, also admitted failings and listed a string of reforms it had made. She said: “We should have been better at making sure that the risks to all the young people affected were considered. Significant changes have been made to our practice since then.”
In 2013, shop worker Reynolds, now 24, lured Georgia, a talented headgirl, to his home in Wellington, Shropshire, while his family were away and hanged her. He took pictures of the moments before she died, and after her death stripped her, violated her body and took more images. He later dumped her body in woodland.
Reynolds joined the likes of serial killer Rose West and Mark Bridger, who murdered schoolgirl April Jones, on the list of prisoners who have been told they will never be released.
Photograph: West Mercia Police/PA
The discretionary serious case review exposed a series of failings. In 2008, when he was 17, Reynolds invited a 16-year-old girl to his home on the pretence of her helping with a media project. He tried to strangle her but she fought him off and he was reported to the police.
Officers decided he had committed assault occasioning actual bodily harm and issued him with a final warning. Agencies including local children’s services, the youth offending team and mental health services had contact with Reynolds after the attack.
A mental health nurse visited Reynolds at home and was shown pictures by his parents of three girls in school uniform that the teenager had corrupted by drawing nooses around their necks. He was subsequently assessed as posing a “significant risk” to others. His parents also went to the police and told them about the pictures and his use of violent pornography.
But the police took no further action. The report concludes officers had a “blinkered approach” and believed the case had already been “suitably resolved”. The report goes on: “Although at least eight agencies … had involvement in this case, at no time did all these agencies meet together and there was no clear and coordinated approach.”
Reynolds again came to the attention of police in August 2011 when he rammed a colleague’s car after she rejected his advances. No checks were made on the police information system about Reynolds’ past so he was not connected to the 2008 attack.
The report says: “In retrospect, it is clear that had this matter been looked into in more detail it would have highlighted Reynolds’ ongoing and developing behaviour and the need for serious concern about the risks he posed.”
