A young woman who travelled from Canada to Chelmsford in Essex to visit a man she met online was found dead in what one police officer called ‘a truly gruesome scene’
What began as an innocent Facebook friendship between two young people ended in a frenzied attack that left a 19-year-old girl with more than 90 stab wounds to her chest.
When police arrested Ashley Wadsworth’s killer on February 1, 2022, he was on a FaceTime call to his sister “as he showed her the body.”
Ashley had met Essex boy Jack Sepple online when she was 12 and he was 15. Over the following few years, the relationship blossomed into a romance, with the teenager sending her online boyfriend messages saying, “I just miss you so much, Jack. I love you so much. I miss you.”
Canadian-born Ashley had longed to cross the Atlantic to visit Sepple in Essex, but her parents resisted the idea for as long as they could. Ashley’s mother, Christy Gendron, told ITV True Crime: “Ashley first met Jack, as I understand it, on the Facebook. So they were just friends at first… they’d talk about Britain and he’d ask about Canada.”
Christy and her husband, Ken Wadsworth, were tolerant of their daughter’s transatlantic crush. “If she was talking to him, I’d say ‘Hi, Jack’ and ask him about England,” Christy said. “I loved his accent.”
However, Christy added that she always advised her daughter not to get too attached to Sepple because they lived so far apart.
What Christy and Ken did not know at the time was that the charming young Englishman their daughter was chatting to online had a number of previous convictions, including harassment, breaching a restraining order by contacting a girl after she ended their online relationship, and assaulting his own mother.
Ken Wadsworth told how, while he had been against letting his daughter travel to the UK at first, by the time she turned 19 he knew he could not prevent her indefinitely. After Ashley told him, “Well, I’m gonna go, no matter what, so you’re either with me or against me,” Ken relented and told her to start saving for the trip.
Before Ashley set off on the 4,000-mile journey, Christy begged Sepple to keep her safe. “I said to him, ‘Jack, I’m sending you my baby, so please take care of her. … I’m trusting you with her.’”
Sepple tried to reassure Christy, promising that he would “guard Ashley with his life.” But after the excited teenager stepped onto the plane that would take her to England, Christy would never see her daughter alive again.
Ashley’s gap-year visit started well, with Ashley telling her mum that she and Sepple had “such a good connection,” but things soured dramatically after the devout Mormon told Sepple that she was thinking about cutting the trip short.
Ashley’s sister, Hailey, recalled: “He didn’t take her out for dinner. He didn’t buy her flowers. He didn’t buy her anything. He didn’t do anything nice for her.
“Her life became kind of boring, stuck in the flat that they lived in. Jack wasn’t working, and I said ‘You guys just sit there all day?’”
Ken added: “I figured they’d be walking around Chelmsford and seeing the sights, but apparently that wasn’t exactly the case. I think they just stayed home and… and I think it was just a control situation.”
Over the Christmas period, a major turning point came after Sepple was admitted to hospital after apparently taking a deliberate drug overdose. “When he got out after New Year’s,” Hailey said, “things really started to change. That’s when he started to be more controlling.”
Ashley told her that Sepple had hit her over the head with a glass cup, Hailey said, and that he was becoming increasingly violent. “It was so awful. I spent two weeks begging her to come home.”
Helen Burtenshaw, who lived next door to Sepple in Tennyson Road, Chelmsford, told how Ashley came knocking on her door on the day she died. “She came running round, banging on the door. She had no shoes on.
“She had a cut on her hand and her phone was smashed to pieces. She said, ‘Jack’s just beaten me up,’ and I said, ‘We’ve got to phone the police.’”
Ashley tried to prevent Helen from dialling 999, but also told her that a clearly out-of-control Sepple had violently thrown their kitten against a wall. After using Helen’s phone to speak with her family, Ashley agreed to go home. The only delay was that she needed a COVID test before getting on the flight.
On Tuesday, February 1, Hailey tried desperately to reach her sister, calling Sepple’s phone because she knew Ashley’s was broken.
Eventually, Hailey called Essex Police, who visited Sepple’s address for a welfare check. Unable to get an answer, despite it being clear that someone was moving around inside, officers kicked the door in.
Detective Superintendent Scott Egerton described how Sepple was found on his bed, with Ashley’s body lying next to him. “There was a large quantity of blood in that bedroom,” he said. “It was a truly gruesome scene.”
One of the officers asked Sepple what had happened, DS Egerton said. “And he said, quite chillingly, ‘I went psychotic. I’m sorry.’” Sepple admitted that he had strangled Ashley before stabbing her.
He was arrested at the scene, eventually standing trial at Chelmsford Crown Court in October 2022. The judge, Mr Justice Murray, told Sepple he was “a dangerous individual,” adding that the attack on Ashley had been “brutal and cowardly.”
Sepple was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years and six months, which he must serve before he can be considered for parole.
If you have been affected by issues of domestic violence or coercive control you can call Refuge’s 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free. The number is 0808 2000 247
