Independent investigation report should be made public, says family of Georgia Williams

The investigation, dubbed Operation Columbia, has not yet been published, despite the release yesterday of a separate report following a serious case review carried out by agencies within the West Mercia area.

Its report details the action of numerous West Mercia Police officers. It has led to misconduct proceedings against four officers and a staff member over serious failures to investigate Jamie Reynolds in the years before he murdered Georgia Williams.

The parents of Georgia have criticised police, saying the force should be embarrassed by the damning external review undertaken by Devon and Cornwall Police.

They today urged the inquiry to be put in the public domain.

It comes after the serious case review was released on Wednesday into how police and other agencies failed to act on signs that Reynolds posed a risk to others in the years before he strangled Georgia.

Steve Williams and his wife Lynnette said the review was only "half the story" and called for Devon & Cornwall Police's report into the conduct of West Mercia Police officers to be made public.

Mr Williams, himself a serving West Mercia Police officer, said: "It should be released because it gives all the answers to the questions that remain.

"The serious case review report is an outline and a suggestion of what went wrong.

"The Devon & Cornwall report confirms what went wrong.

"We cried when we read this, we cried even more when we read the Devon & Cornwall report and the context of it.

"The answers to why officers didn't do what they should of, in our eyes the Devon & Cornwall report is 10 times worse.

"It would be an embarrassment to the police, like this is an embarrassment to the police, but I think it should come out because it gives you the answers."

Responding to the comments, Chief Constable Shaw said it was not "within our remit" to release the Devon & Cornwall Police report.