Man, 23, admits killing Canadian teenager he met on dating app

A 23-year-old man from Essex has admitted to murdering his teenage Canadian girlfriend.

Jack Sepple killed 19-year-old Ashley Wadsworth, from Vernon in British Columbia, at a house in Chelmsford in February after meeting her on a dating app.

Officers were called to an address in Tennyson Road shortly after 4pm on 1 February after reports of a disturbance.

Paramedics tried to save Ms Wadsworth but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

An inquest hearing was told that she died of “stab wounds to the chest”.

In a brief hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court, Sepple’s barrister said a psychiatrist had indicated that the defendant was fit to plead.

Christopher Paxton QC, for Sepple, said that the “issue of fitness is now resolved” and requested that the defendant be asked to enter a plea.

The court clerk read the single charge of murder and Sepple, standing in the secure dock in a long white sleeved top and with tattoos on his face and hand, replied: “I’m guilty.”

Judge Christopher Morgan told Sepple: “By your plea of guilty to murder there’s only one sentence that can be passed and that’s a life sentence.”

He remanded the defendant in custody until a date is found for sentencing.

Ms Wadsworth moved to Chelmsford in November 2021, she wrote on Facebook.

Earlier this year she posted photos online of her “amazing trip to London”, where she had been sightseeing.