Essex Police enter house before arrest of Jack Sepple
What started as a harmless Facebook friendship between two youngsters ended with in a violent attack that left a teenager with more than 90 stab wounds to her chest.
When officers apprehended 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 encountered Essex lad Jack Sepple through social media when she was 12 and he was 15. Throughout the subsequent years, their connection developed into a romance, with the teenager sending her internet boyfriend messages saying: “I just miss you so much, Jack. I love you so much. I miss you.”
Canadian-born Ashley had yearned to travel across the Atlantic to see Sepple in Essex, but her parents opposed the notion for as long as possible. 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 accepting of their daughter’s overseas infatuation. “If she was talking to him, I’d say ‘Hi, Jack’ and ask him about England,” Christy said. “I loved his accent.”
Ashley visited the UK during a gap year (Image: SWNS)
Nevertheless, Christy added that she more than once cautioned her daughter against becoming too emotionally invested in Sepple – given the considerable distance between them. What Christy and Ken were unaware of at the time was that the charming young Englishman their daughter was conversing with online had several prior convictions, including harassment, violating a restraining order by contacting a girl after she terminated their online relationship, and attacking his own mother.
Ken Wadsworth revealed how, while he had initially opposed allowing his daughter to travel to the UK, by the time she reached 19 he recognised he could not stop her indefinitely. After Ashley declared to him: “Well, I’m gonna go, no matter what, so you’re either with me or against me,” Ken gave in and instructed her to begin saving for the journey.
Before Ashley embarked on the 4,000-mile voyage, Christy pleaded with Sepple to keep her safe. She explained: “I said to him, ‘Jack, I’m sending you my baby, so please take care of her. … I’m trusting you with her’.”
Sepple attempted to comfort Christy, vowing that he would “guard Ashley with his life”.
Ashley’s sister Hailey [L] had become increasingly concerned about her (Image: Hailey Gendron)
However, after the thrilled teenager boarded the aircraft that would transport her to England, Christy would never see her daughter alive again.
Ashley’s gap-year visit began positively, with Ashley informing her mum that she and Sepple had “such a good connection,” but matters deteriorated drastically after the devout Mormon told Sepple that she was considering cutting the trip short.
Ashley’s sister, Hailey, remembered: “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 continued: “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.”
Christy Gendron had warned her daughter not to get too attached to Sepple (Image: Phil Harris)
During the Christmas period, a crucial moment arrived when Sepple was hospitalised following what appeared to be an intentional drug overdose. “When he got out after New Year’s, things really started to change,” Hailey explained. “That’s when he started to be more controlling.”
Ashley revealed to her that Sepple had struck her over the head with a glass cup and that he was becoming progressively more violent. Her sister continued: “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, described how Ashley came knocking on her door on the day she died. She recalled: “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.'”.
Sepple had apparently attempted to take his own life before murdering Ashley (Image: PA)
Ashley attempted to stop Helen from calling 999, but also revealed that a clearly unhinged Sepple had brutally hurled their kitten against a wall. Following a conversation with her family using Helen’s phone, Ashley consented to return home.
The sole obstacle was that she required a COVID test before boarding the flight. On Tuesday, February 1, Hailey attempted frantically to contact her sister, ringing Sepple’s phone as she was aware Ashley’s was damaged.
Ultimately, Hailey contacted Essex Police, who attended Sepple’s address for a welfare check. Unable to receive a response, despite it being evident that someone was moving about inside, officers forced entry through the door.
Detective Superintendent Scott Egerton described how Sepple was discovered on his bed, with Ashley’s body positioned beside him. “There was a large quantity of blood in that bedroom,” he said.
Ashley Wadsworth with her sister Hailey Gendron (Image: Hailey Gendron)
“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, subsequently 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
