Georgia Williams's parents: Lack of care left evil in our midst

It was so obvious that Reynolds was, if not one already, a murderer in the making.

Georgia's death could have been prevented – learn that if nothing else.

Police and other agencies must listen to the grieving mother of murdered Shropshire teenager Georgia Williams. They must hang on to her every word, using them as a reminder of the responsibilities that officers have to the public at large. Every day Lynnette Williams and her family pay the price for the failings of rank and file officers, health officials and care workers whose inaction meant Georgia was not safe from harm.

Lynnette's pain doesn't ease. Time doesn't take away the hurt. She and her family just have to get used to what happened and let life drag them along. They must make the best of things: it is all they can do.

They do not seek to unfairly denigrate West Mercia Police, the NSPCC or Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services. However, killer Jamie Reynolds was on the collective radar of those agencies for five years before he strangled Georgia. For the last three years of that it had been decided that he was safe enough to be left to his own devices. That 'watch and wait' policy was fundamentally flawed. Errors are seldom so catastrophic and unpropitious. Lynette has described Reynolds as a "murderer in the making". And she is right.

To some, the words that Georgia's parents have used to describe those who failed to prevent their daughter's death might seem harsh. The Williams family has spoken of "chaos, incompetence, complacency and a don't-care attitude". Their words are not harsh, however, they are true. While the heinous perpetrator of Georgia's death is now safely behind bars and serving a full life sentence, he ought not to have been free to kill in the first place.

Georgia's parents have been entirely dignified and utterly remarkable. They have liaised with authorities to help to prevent similar tragedies occurring in future. They deserve continued compassion, support and empathy. It is simply impossible to imagine how their lives have been shattered by the evil of Reynolds.

The Williams family are creating a legacy for Georgia that is simple to understand. They want to make sure that no other family endures the pain and suffering that they have felt. And they want to make sure that no other teenager or young woman suffers in the way their daughter did. Their aims and intentions are robust and can only be supported.

The police and agencies represented by the West Mercia Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements have taken their message on board. And they have formulated an action plan that ought to mean youngsters like Georgia are safe. It is for them to prove to the Williams family that they will walk it like they talk it; that their actions will speak louder than words.

Police and care workers earn their living in high stakes professions. They do so by choice and must exercise the duties expected of them and make good on the trust that others have in their work.

To their credit, the police and officials from care agencies have not tried to shy away from what happened, nor their part in it. They have embraced the principles of transparency, openness and accountability. They have not dissembled. They have confronted flaws head on and provided pledges that lessons have been learned.

We appreciate West Mercia Police initiating this report having recognised that the 2008 investigation was inadequate to say the least.

However, considering that multi-agency resolutions are considered a way of achieving best results, this report shows how this approach can be disastrous.

No one goes out to do a bad job, but we know that there are people that don't care whether they do a bad job or not – the general public will know that also. They, like us, will know people with this attitude.

Unfortunately if you are a police officer, doctor, fireman, social worker or the like, doing a bad job, whether you set out to do it or just don't care, can lead to someone losing their life.

That is what happened in Georgia's case.

This report shows that if organisations tolerate the employment of such people then there is a chance a group of them will come together, which culminates in chaos, incompetence, complacency and a "don't care attitude".

Those circumstances increase the probability that tragedies like this one will happen.

We do not thank any of the authorities included in this report for trying to make improvements as they shouldn't be necessary, but we do acknowledge that they realise that this shouldn't happen again.

This is about basic professional standards and common sense of individuals.

In 2008 all the tools to deal with Reynolds were available – the law was there, sanctions and punishment was there, rehabilitation was there, and most importantly there were actions that could have been taken to protect the public from Reynolds.

Unfortunately, to put it mildly, in our opinion, incompetence, stupidity and acceptance of extremely low standards prevailed and, with the knowledge that Reynolds was dangerous, a murderer in the making was allowed to walk free to prey on any female.

Today we discover the findings of two reports, one from the Devon & Cornwall Police and the other from a group of agencies within the West Mercia area.

Both inquiries tell how Reynolds was given the freedom to kill, despite several warnings about his behaviour. What the public need to know is that Georgia was just one young female on a long list of potential victims that Reynolds had planned to murder.

To the public we say this: Take note and take interest in this report. It is not only about how Georgia came to be murdered by evil – it is about how easily any mother and father could be sat here today talking about how Reynolds was aided in his perverted lust to kill their daughter.

And all this has happened because of the lack of care by people working for these organisations.

We expect transparency and openness by the authorities, and we expect accountability – we will wait and see what they think transparency, openness and accountability is.