Our Georgia: The devastating murder of my daughter by a killer who should have been stopped

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Physical pain I can stand, but I’ve never known mental pain like this. It’s torture, years of torture.”

fantasy led to Georgia Williams murder - BBC Jamie Reynolds: Sex fantasy led to Georgia Williams murder - BBC

Reynolds – then 23 and one of Georgia’s wide circle of friends – lived a short walk away. He had begged her for help realising his dream of becoming a ­photographer, but the ruse was part of a murder that had been years in the making. Wow...what a tragic story! I feel so much for the family & all they had to go through, especially when it seems like it could have been prevented. Reynolds was charged with murder, and Steve and Lynnette made a harrowing journey to lay flowers at the scene. “I couldn’t believe our lives had come to this,” she says. “Sat in a police car with a bunch of roses on our way to visit the woods where this murderer had dumped our daughter.This is a read that is both necessary and uncomfortable, yet it will also break your heart and bring you to tears. This reading left me with mixed emotions - angry and disgusted, yet respectful of Georgia's loved ones. Sadly, it turns out to be a very sad story that could have been avoided as Lynn exposes a system with so many failures, into not only the police taking their eye of Renolds when he was younger and committed his first crime, but also the miss communication between psychiatrists and psychologists that warned agencies including the police that this young man was very dangerous. On June 14, Telford was brought to a ­standstill as a motorbike escort led Georgia’s funeral cortege. The night before, her family lined the route with bows in orange and ­turquoise, her favourite colours. Happiness is something that has been in short supply for this family since the murder of younger daughter Georgia 10 years ago this month. This was such a powerful and heart wrenching story. Written from the victims mothers point of view, it’s a nice change to hear more about Georgia and what she was like instead of being glossed over as can happen when books on true crime are written and get more focused on the murderer.

Timeline: Georgia Williams murder - BBC News Timeline: Georgia Williams murder - BBC News

I am not just saying that, I truly believe it. Once you read this book, I am convinced that you will agree with my assessment. The fact that Georgia's father was a police detective makes this all the more poignant and inexcusable. Drawing on Steve’s inside police knowledge, the couple exposed the litany of failures that let Reynolds infiltrate their daughter’s life, and allowed him to kill. I appreciated the authors insights into what she was feeling, how her family was handling things, etc. In this powerful moving memoir Lynnette and Steve expose the many failures that let Reynolds infiltrate their daughter's life and allowed him to kill. This is an extremely raw account of an unimaginable tragedy and I felt my heart go out to Lynette, Steve and Scarlett and Georgia. Having said that, because of its emotion, it was sometimes difficult to read.I've never read a book like this before - a brutal crime and its consequences told by the mother of a victim. The style is almost conversational and Lynette's voice comes through clearly. I can hear her Welsh accent in the words (no idea if she has one but that's what I heard in my head while reading). Another drag for me was the constant rehashing of how the courts, police, probation, therapists, etc failed them. The first mention was enough, then there was the report itself, then a constant rehashing of how they failed to keep Georgia safe. Thank you to Robin Eveleigh; Lynnette Williams, Mardle Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. But when Georgia’s devastated mother, Lynnette, and father, Steve, questioned the events leading to their daughter’s death, they discovered it was also entirely preventable.