Callum Wheeler murder trial: PCSO Julia James attack ‘planned over many days and weeks,’ court hears
PCSO Julia James was murdered in ‘deliberate act of violence that was planned over many days and weeks’: Court hears suspect had ‘toured area on numerous occasions with railway jack waiting for moment to strike’
Callum Wheeler accused of murdering PCSO Julia James in Kent in April last year22-year-old said to have killed Ms James near Ackholt Wood, close to her homeMs James was walking her Jack Russell, Toby, when he attacked with railway jackWheeler accepts responsibility for her death but denies murder and is on trial
<!–
<!–
<!–<!–
<!–
(function (src, d, tag){
var s = d.createElement(tag), prev = d.getElementsByTagName(tag)[0];
s.src = src;
prev.parentNode.insertBefore(s, prev);
}(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/1.17.0/async_bundle–.js”, document, “script”));
<!–
DM.loadCSS(“https://www.dailymail.co.uk/static/gunther/gunther-2159/video_bundle–.css”);
<!–
A man accused of murdering PCSO Julia James with a metal railway jack had planned the attack ‘over many days weeks’, a court today heard.
Prosecutors told jury members that ‘highly sexualised’ Callum Wheeler ‘toured’ Ackholt Wood, near Snowdon, Kent, with the 3kg tool ‘waiting for a moment’ to ambush a lone female.
The murder trial heard how the 22-year-old had been at the location, near to Ms James home, ‘at least four times before’ and was aware that people walked their dogs in the area.
When Ms James, a 53-year-old PCSO who was walking her Jack Russell, Toby, near the woods on April 27 last year he attacked and killed her, jury members were told.
Wheeler, who is on trial at Canterbury Crown Court, admits responsibility for Ms James death but denies her murder.
Delivering a closing speech in the trial today, prosecutor Alison Morgan QC told jury members: ‘The attack on Julia James was not a momentary and spontaneous act of violence by this defendant. He had planned the attack over many days and weeks.
A man accused of murdering PCSO Julia James (pictured) with a metal railway jack had planned the attack ‘over many days weeks’, a court today heard
Prosecutors told jury members that ‘highly sexualised’ Callum Wheeler (pictured) ‘toured’ Ackholt Wood, near Snowdon, Kent, with the 3kg tool ‘waiting for a moment’ to ambush a lone female
‘He toured around the area on numerous occasions and on occasions with the weapon, looking for the moment to strike.
‘This defendant had been at the specific location of the attack on Julia James at least four times before.’
The jury heard that the prosecution maintains that the attack was not a fit of rage or spontaneous, but ‘an ambush attack where the defendant intended to surprise his victim’.
Referring to the railway jack (pictured), allegedly used in the killing, she said: ‘Where he got it from is a secret known only to him.
Ms Morgan added: ‘He knew those woods members of the jury.
‘He knew that people walked dogs in those woods, he knew that if he waited for the right moment there would be a lone female when nobody else was around, when he could commit this attack.’
Ms Morgan said jurors need to look at the actions of Wheeler ‘before, during and after’ the killing.
Referring to the railway jack, allegedly used in the killing, she said: ‘Where he got it from is a secret known only to him.’
She also described Wheeler as a ‘highly sexualised individual’. Wheeler had searched for pornography and for the term rape on his computer in the days before the killing, the jury heard.
‘This defendant was an angry, violent, strange, highly sexualised man. There is no mental health defence available to him,’ she told the court.
Ms Morgan also told jury members that Ms James originally ‘run for her life’ after seeing Wheeler attack.
‘No doubt as fast as she possibly could, wearing wellingtons, caught by surprise, her heart rate surging.’
She told jurors it was an attack ‘involving stages’, the defendant allegedly handling her body before delivering ‘repeated blows to her head’.
Mrs James had some of the most serious head injuries ever seen by the pathologist involved in the case, Ms Morgan said.
She said there was not just one blow. ‘It was again and again and again,’ she told the jury.
‘How could he have intended anything else but to cause her at least really serious harm?’
Ms Morgan also told the jury that, in the moments after the killing, Wheeler began thinking about how to cover it up.
Pictured: The route taken by Julia James on the day she died, mapped using data from her apple watch
Wheeler (pictured here in a court sketch), who is on trial at Canterbury Crown Court, admits responsibility for Ms James death but denies her murder
‘In those moments after he had killed Julia James the defendant was present and thinking, and thinking about covering up the blood that he could see, and he was thinking about how he could get away from the scene, how he could cover up the weapon.’
The railway jack was wrapped in plastic bags soon after Mrs James’s death, the court heard.
Mrs Morgan told the jury that after the death Wheeler began ‘game-playing’, running away when challenged by local gamekeeper Gavin Tucker and spotted in a field by a police officer. He also searched for news articles about the investigation.
On arrest, Wheeler exposed himself to female officers and tried to masturbate in front of them, telling one member of staff that Mrs James ‘deserved to die’, the court heard.
He also said that he would go back to the woods and rape and kill a woman, it was claimed.
