0:00
I'm going to England soon. I'm so excited. You have no idea.
0:07
She was a teenager growing up in Canada. She had good friends, a decent school, a
0:13
loving family, and then there's him, an older boy from England, someone that she'd met online, and someone who lives
0:20
an entire ocean away. It starts innocent enough, just messages after school, late
0:25
night calls, and little gifts that were sent to her in the post. awkward teenage flirting that slowly turns into
0:32
something that feels like love. He talks to her every day, says that she is his world, and even tattoos her name on his
0:39
arm, which, yeah, is a little bit intense, but hey, that's just devotion,
0:44
right? Well, months pass and then years until one day she actually books that
0:50
flight. The journey is more than 4,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to meet
0:55
the person that she is convinced is the love of her life. The one who is supposed to make everything click into
1:02
place. And for a while it works. It feels incredible. But then the cracks
1:08
start to show. The same cracks that were always there. Only now she can't log
1:13
off. She can't close the laptop. And she can't mute the chat because now she
1:18
isn't separated by screens anymore. She's alone right there with him.
1:24
I'm going to kill her. I'ming murderering little
1:30
driving me crazy. Hey there folks, my name is Adrian and today we're traveling to Chelmsford
1:36
which is found near London to look at a story that began more than 4,000 miles away in Canada. It was in the afternoon
1:43
of February the 1st, 2022 that police forced their way into an apartment to find a man named Jack Sppel on the phone
1:50
to his sister, which to be honest with you sounds ordinary enough, right? However, the reason why he was on the
1:56
phone to his sister was far more sinister than you may imagine. And when they took a closer look at his
2:01
apartment, because, you know, they were there over grave concerns over somebody else, they found many damning clues.
2:09
We're talking about things like hidden weapons, blood on an Xbox controller, and even a human body. The whole lot.
2:15
But let me tell you folks, that was only the beginning, as this story gets far darker than you may imagine. Before we
2:22
begin though, and just to let you know that I post true crime once or twice a week here. So, if you haven't yet,
2:28
please do consider subscribing. And now, with that said, please grab yourself a coffee and let's get comfortable. This
2:34
is the case of Jack Sppel.
2:46
Welcome to Chelmsford, folks. Found to the northeast of England, Chelmsford is
2:52
an expensive yet quiet city to live in. With a historic cathedral, commuter town
2:57
energy, and weekend markets, it is what most families would describe as comfortable to live in. The weekend
3:04
markets here will make you hungry. Trust me, I know London very well and you can't quite beat its food scene
3:10
sometimes. And honestly, that's my problem because I love good food, but I just hate everything that goes before
3:16
it. You know, like meal planning, the grocery shop, the actual time spent in the kitchen, and what happens if you
3:22
miss an ingredient or just mess the whole thing up? That is tragic. So, recently, I've been using something that
3:29
makes my life ridiculously easier. And of course, that's HelloFresh. And by the way, I am not exaggerating when I say
3:36
that it's actually changed and revolutionized the way that I eat throughout my week. Because now there's
3:41
no more sad dinners or takeaways. It's actual home-cooked dinners with real ingredients. And everything just shows
3:48
up at my door pre-proportioned and with step-by-step recipes, which honestly is
3:53
great because that means no more wandering supermarket aisles at 8:00 p.m. wondering why coriander costs $12.
4:00
Most of the recipes take like 30 minutes or less, too, which of course is faster than waiting for delivery and obviously
4:06
way healthier. As some of you might know, I'm now back at the gym and trying to build myself out. And HelloFresh has
4:12
got more than 15 high protein recipes every single week, which is perfect for me. I'm actually hitting my protein
4:19
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4:26
HelloFresh is flexible, meaning that if I'm traveling, filming, or deep in script writing mode, I can just simply
4:32
pause, skip weeks, swap meals, or even double up, whatever, really. There is no
4:37
pressure, and it all works around me. And strangely enough, when I sat down and worked out how much I was spending
4:43
on takeaway and random grocery runs, this actually works out cheaper. So
4:49
yeah, it does make me wonder, why didn't I start this sooner? So, what are you waiting for? Use my code coffee house fm
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at hellofresh.com for 10 free meals plus free shipping. Free meals applied is
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discount on first box. New or returning subscribers only and varies by plan. Thank you again to HelloFresh for
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sponsoring this video. Go to hellofresh.com and use the code coffee house FM. And by the way, thank you to
5:13
you folks for listening too. Healthy eating. And now let's get straight back to our video today. Life here can be
5:20
charming, comfortable, and even peaceful. However, on February the 1st of 2022, that sense of peace was
5:27
suddenly shattered. It all began when police officers were called to a one-bedroom flat found near the city
A shocking discovery
5:33
center. And when officers forced their way inside, they found a young woman who was lying face down on the bed.
5:40
Chelmsford police were horrified by the details. Upon closer inspection, they
5:46
noticed that the woman had been stabbed over 90 times. And it turns out they
5:51
already knew who she was. She was the same person that the call to emergency services had feared was in trouble, and
5:58
that was Ashley Wodssworth. At the time, Ashley was only 19 years old and was a
6:04
Canadian tourist who was visiting the UK on a travel visa. She had traveled here
6:09
for what was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime, elevated with love and romance with her long-distance
6:16
partner. But here's the thing. At first glance, it may be tempting to say that
6:21
this was just another shocking headline. But the real truth is that it's deeper
6:26
and actually far more chilling. Because this murder wasn't random or sudden or
6:32
even begin in that flat in England, but it actually started a decade earlier across the Atlantic Ocean and on the
6:39
internet. But before we can get to what happened or even why, we must first
6:44
travel all the way over to Vernon and back to the year 2002. It was here and in the Okonagan Valley
6:51
of British Columbia that Ashley was born. Born in the year 2002, Ashley was
6:57
raised by her mom, Christy Gendron, and was close to her older sister, Haley. People describe her as the kind of
7:03
person who made everything that little bit breezier. She was warm, social, and
7:08
openly affectionate, and she liked to play sports like ringing and tennis. And although her parents had been separated
7:14
for quite a while, she had good relationships on both sides, with her dad, Ken Wodsworth, in the picture just
7:21
as much as her mom was. Now, this part is important later on in the video, but
7:26
during her late teenage years, Ashley became interested in faith and turned to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
7:33
Saints. She was even baptized there, too, and would find community wherever
7:38
she went. By the year 2021, Ashley had graduated high school and had even been
7:44
accepted into Thompson Rivers University in Cam Loops. However, and like so many
7:49
other people during CO, the pandemic really scrambled her timeline. Life and education wasn't quite the same anymore.
7:56
And so, she decided to take a gap year. And here is where things get really interesting. But for Ashley, this wasn't
8:03
just a gap year or time off. It was a window of opportunity. An opportunity to
8:08
meet someone that she'd planned to meet for many years. sitting quietly in the background in messages, Discord calls,
8:15
and late night conversations, Ashley had found her constant. And that constant was a man in England named Jack Sppel.
8:22
And by the way, Jack wasn't just a mate or a good friend, but someone that Ashley had actually fallen for. And
8:28
somebody that she believed would finally make everything make sense. And so, on that note, now that she was finally an
8:35
adult, what was she to do apart from, you know, finally meet the love of her life?
Jack Sepple and Ashley Wadsworth
8:42
Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean and back in Chsford, there was nothing
8:47
particularly remarkable about Jack Sppel. To be honest with you, he was just another quiet teen in an English
8:53
town. And I guess in a way that is kind of what makes this story so unsettling because at the beginning there were no
9:00
red flags. It was back in the year 2015 and when Ashley was only 12 years old
9:06
that she did what many of us would do after school. She would routinely jump on the laptop, message friends on
9:12
Facebook, and maybe even play video games. And it was somewhere in that endless online web that somehow she
9:20
found Jack. Now, at least at the beginning, they were basically pen pals, and nothing more or less. Jack and
9:27
Ashley would message each other about school, music, cultural differences, and their own little jokes. And because Jack
9:34
lived thousands of miles away, there was also something kind of romantic about it, too. However, here is the
9:40
difference. Because while Ashley was outgoing and social, and knew how to make friends in the real world, Jack
9:47
really was not that kind of guy. He was quieter, more withdrawn, and would even spend most of his time online. But, as
9:55
they say, sometimes opposites attract, and it can feel quite magnetic. And so
10:00
with that out the way, every day they would keep on talking. Time zones didn't even really seem to slow them down.
10:06
Actually, in Canada, Ashley would wake up early before school just to catch him late at night in England. And if that
10:13
wasn't enough, she would stay up late only to squeeze in another hour of conversation. And as you can imagine,
10:19
before long, Jack wasn't really just a friend. He became the person that she would talk to about quite literally
10:26
everything. her day, her worries, her dreams, and her anxieties. In fact, soon
10:31
enough, he would even post her gifts in the mail. Romantic stuff like teddy bears and clothes and jewelry. Her
10:38
family knew about him, too, by the way. Jack was no secret to Christy. In fact, she had even seen him on video calls and
10:44
thought he looked quite normal. To her, he was just a young English kid and definitely seemed innocent enough. And,
10:50
you know, it actually kind of felt wholesome. These were two individual people growing up together with an ocean
10:56
between them. However, over the years, that friendship did certainly shift. Conversations grew deeper, emotions grew
11:03
more attached, and before they knew it, they were even talking about meeting one day. By the age of 15, Ashley was even
11:10
asking her mom if she could fly over to England to meet him. And of course, the answer was a categorical no because
11:16
Ashley was way too young to be meeting Teen's Romeo. However, that idea would
11:21
never leave her because in Ashley's mind, Jack was no longer an online friend or even just a good friend for
11:27
that matter. He was her future. And when the two finally stood face to face,
11:32
everything would click into place. But unfortunately, while Ashley was busy daydreaming about this great meeting,
11:39
cracks were already beginning to form in the relationship, and she had no idea how deep they would go.
11:47
Like most teenage relationships, Ashley and Jack started to blur the line between sweet and messy. Only in their
11:54
case, the messiness didn't come from awkward dates or misunderstandings, but from control instead. And that's because
12:01
even with an ocean between them, Jack's insecurities would creep into every conversation. He wanted to know who
12:07
Ashley was with, who she was talking to, and what boys were around her at school.
12:13
And if she even mentioned hanging out with any male friends, his mood would sour almost immediately. So, you can
12:20
probably imagine that what began as mild jealousy would soon slowly turn into
12:25
daily interrogation. Jack would press Ashley for details, accuse her of
12:30
flirting, and even convince himself that she was hiding something. And because all of these arguments would happen
12:37
through a screen, they could stretch on quite literally for hours. Now, at first, Ashley would brush most of this
12:44
off. As a young teenager, it didn't feel dangerous or concerning. Maybe dramatic,
12:49
but only at best. So, when the arguments escalated and Ashley had too much, she
12:54
would quite literally just block him to get some space. But it would never end there. Because if Jack was blocked, he
13:00
would simply make a new account to speak to her. And if that didn't work, he would just simply message her sister.
13:07
Okay, so this is where things begin to get extremely concerning. But when Ashley was 16 and Jack was 19, he
13:14
decided to get her name tattooed across his entire arm. Of course, to Ashley, it
13:20
probably felt like devotion, but to her mom, it was a huge red flag. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there,
13:27
either. It was during one argument that Jack grabbed a knife from the kitchen and while still on a video call with
13:33
Ashley, deliberately cut through the tattoo of her name, of course, making him bleed heavily in the process. Now,
13:40
this was a very clear sign of a man who was willing to commit violence even towards himself if he didn't get his
13:47
way. And it gets even worse, unfortunately, because while Ashley was walking on eggshells over this intense
13:53
and exclusive romance, Jack was actually dating multiple women behind her back.
13:59
The crazy thing is that not only did some of them know about Ashley, but they would even refer to her as the favorite.
14:07
At one point, one of Jack's local friends actually called Ashley during a fight and claimed that Jack would not
14:13
let her leave his apartment. Just think about that for a second. Ashley, who was
14:19
all the way over in Canada, would end up mediating a fight for another woman and her own boyfriend. And this is where
14:25
things get even more infuriating, because I haven't even told you about Jack's history yet. Court records show
14:33
that Jack already had a history of violence and controlling behavior towards other previous girlfriends, who,
14:40
by the way, were completely unknown to Ashley. It actually got so bad that both
14:45
of these former partners had even sought restraining orders against him. And in one case, he had harassed a girl so
14:52
badly that after the relationship ended, he even breached court orders not to
14:57
contact her. But his aggression actually went back further than that. Because as a teenager, Jack had assaulted his very
15:04
own mother during an argument and even dragged her to the floor. In fact, she too would eventually take out a
15:11
restraining order against him. Now, at the time, Ashley actually had no idea that any of this existed. She was only
15:19
aware of the jealousy, the self harm, and the control. And don't get me wrong, by the way, her friends did definitely
15:26
urge her to walk away. Because quite simply, anyone looking from the outside could quite clearly see the issue. But
15:32
the thing is that Ashley did not see Jack in the way that the rest of the world did. Instead, she saw his
15:38
vulnerable side, that he was broken and all he really needed was love. And she
15:44
also believed that if she were there with him in person, things would be different. And so instead of pulling
15:50
away like she should have, Ashley leaned into it instead. She took on more shifts, planned to save more money, and
15:58
planned to meet Jack sooner. And when she would finally have enough money saved up to board that flight to
16:04
Heithro, well, everything would be so much better.
16:10
I'm going to England soon. I'm so [ __ ] excited.
16:19
You have no idea. It was in November of 2021 and with a six-month visa approved
16:25
and a suitcase finally packed that Ashley said goodbye to her family at the airport. Hindsight can be a horrible
16:32
thing. But it was later on that her mother admitted that she had a bad feeling about this. It wasn't a logical
16:39
one or even one that she could quite clearly explain. It was just a bad gut
16:44
feeling. But unfortunately, Ashley was now 19 years old. And of course, as an
16:50
adult, she was bound to make her own decisions. 12 hours later, and Ashley
Time together
16:55
and Jack would meet at Heathrow like something straight out of a movie. This was the moment that after nearly 10
17:02
years of speaking to each other, that two longing hearts would finally close the gap. There is even a photo of that
17:09
moment with Jack with his arm around her. And for a brief moment, it really
17:14
does look like a happy ending. However, as these stories usually go, it wasn't.
17:20
And unfortunately, this was only the beginning of an actual nightmare. After
17:25
meeting at the airport, Jack then brought Ashley back to his one-bedroom flat, which was found on Penison Road.
17:32
It was nothing fancy. It was just a modest apartment that felt cramped and a little bit worn down. But to Ashley,
17:38
that of course really didn't matter because now she had Jack. The first Fortnite together went by without any
17:45
issues whatsoever, and honestly, it probably felt like a honeymoon. They played tourists around London, walked
17:52
through its many old streets, and took selfies wherever they went. They even adopted a little gray kitten named
17:59
Winston that Ashley absolutely adored. And on FaceTime calls made back to
18:04
Canada, Ashley proudly showed her mom the flat, the streets, the cat, and even
18:10
Jack cooking them dinner. And if you were scrolling through her social media, you would very likely think that she was
18:16
finally happy. And the truth is that at least to begin with, she was because Jack was
18:22
attentive, affectionate, and eager to please. And not only would he go along with her ideas, but he would always be
18:29
on his best behavior, too. And I say best behavior because sadly this was not the real or authentic Jack. Now, one of
18:36
the problems, and I say one because there are many, trust me, is that neither of them worked. For Ashley, it
18:42
was quite simple. It's because she was a tourist and on a tourist visa. But Jack, well, he didn't because that was just
18:49
Jack. Of course, what this meant is that both of them were always stepping on each other's toes because neither of
18:55
them had their own space or their own group of friends. And because they had no money, they couldn't do anything fun
19:01
together. The truth is that Jack didn't really have his own friends either, and he would spend most of his days playing
19:06
Xbox or smoking weed. And unfortunately, Ashley didn't know many people in the area. In fact, he would even discourage
19:14
her from talking to new people or even neighbors. And whenever she messaged anyone, he would always ask who it was.
19:20
Now, despite all of this, Ashley still tried to remain positive. And she would even hope that this was merely just an
19:26
adjustment phase. She would even try to bring him into her church community, hoping that faith and new friends would
19:32
hopefully open him up. However, let's just say that Jack didn't want anything to do with it. Instead, he just wanted
19:40
Ashley at home by his side doing nothing. It was right after Christmas and on Boxing Day that things took a
19:46
serious turn when Jack tried to overdose. Ashley would find him barely responsive and immediately called for an
19:53
ambulance, which very likely saved his life. And of course, not only would this be a terrifying ordeal for her, but it
20:00
would also change the dynamic of their relationship overnight. When the hospital staff discharged Jack, they
20:07
wouldn't only send him home, but actually send him into Ashley's care. They would actually give all of his
20:13
medication inside a lock box to her, meaning that she was now in control of
20:18
his health care. What that means is all of a sudden this 19-year-old girl who was alone in a foreign country wasn't
20:25
merely someone's girlfriend, but was actually responsible for managing someone else's mental health. And here
20:32
is the terrible thing about situations like this. But responsibility can create
20:37
guilt, and that guilt can make leaving feel almost impossible. Once you believe
20:42
that someone might hurt themselves without you, walking away starts to feel like abandonment. And unfortunately,
20:49
Ashley was very firmly in that position. Now, Ashley would not tell many people back at home about what happened.
20:56
Instead, she downplayed it, protected Jack, and kept all details vague. And this is because not only did she not
21:02
want her family to worry, but she didn't want them to hate him either. In essence, she was trying to pull two
21:08
opposite forces together. But the truth will always slip out. And when her sister eventually found out and then
21:15
told their mom, Christy was thoroughly traumatized, she begged her daughter to
21:20
come home. But even still, Ashley, at least for now, refused. And the truth is
21:25
that at least for a short while, things would die down. But then all of a sudden, and out of nowhere, the violence
21:32
stopped being emotional and instead became physical. It was during an argument one evening that Jack grabbed a
21:38
heavy beer mug and then smashed it over Ashley's head, shattering it against her skull in the process. And after stepping
21:45
over that boundary, those altercations became more and more common. I mean, we
21:50
are dealing with classic domestic abuse here, folks. Every outburst would come with apologies and promises that it
21:57
would never happen again. And Jack would say that he was broken, that he didn't know what he was doing, and that he was
22:03
sorry. But of course, that cycle would soon become a pattern. And the crazy thing is that Jack's family even knew
22:10
that some of this was going on. It was in the middle of January that they tried to help smooth things over by taking
22:15
both of them away for a short seaside trip. Kind of like a reset button to the relationship. And as expected, things
22:22
did calm down, at least for a few days. But as soon as they returned home to Chelmsford, Jack's paranoia came rushing
22:29
back. Not only would he go through Ashley's phone quite obsessively, but he would even control all of her social
22:36
media, meaning that she was no longer allowed to use any of it without him in the same room. It also meant that he
22:43
could monitor whoever she spoke to, read all of her private messages, delete any
22:48
conversations that he didn't like, and even impersonate her if he chose to. The
22:54
really frustrating thing here is that even still and somehow Ashley decided to stay. Likely because somewhere in her
23:00
mind she was still holding on to the boy that she met all those years ago when she was 12. But by the end of January,
23:07
Ashley was no longer living with this idealized boyfriend, but instead was living with this monster who needed to
23:14
own her.
23:19
By the end of January, the relationship between Ashley and Jack wasn't just unhealthy or unstable, but quite
23:25
literally a nightmare on rocket fuel. They were now arguing multiple times a day, which was always sparked by Jack,
23:32
who by now had become so paranoid that he was terrifying Ashley. And she wasn't the only one. Her family and friends
23:39
were frantic about her. Apparently, they could all hear it in her voice messages, too. She seemed almost guarded with what
23:45
she was saying. Kind of like she was trying not to rock the boat or try not to tread on eggshells. Being honest with
23:52
you, it is quite hard to know what precisely Ashley was thinking because again, I'm just a storyteller that does
23:58
my own research. However, whatever it was, it wasn't good. And then on
24:03
February the 1st of 2022, everything changed. It was around 8:00 a.m. that
24:08
morning that the neighbor next door named Ellen heard screaming through the wall. Shortly after, she heard a frantic
24:14
knock at the front door. And when she opened it, she saw Ashley. Ashley was standing there barefoot, shaking and
24:20
bleeding. And she told Helen that Jack had attacked her and smashed her phone. And tragically, that wasn't it. He had
24:27
also picked up their kitten and then thrown it against the wall. And as you can imagine, that last detail angers me
24:33
so much that I literally feel blind thinking about it. And as for Ashley, she was terrified. She told Helen that
24:39
she believed that Jack was actually going to kill her and she felt this way because he had quite literally told her
24:45
that. But the problem here is that when Helen told Ashley that she was going to call the police, Ashley pleaded her not
24:51
to. She was too scared about the consequences and what Jack might do if officers showed up. So instead, Helen
24:58
decided to go speak to him directly. When Jack answered the door, he immediately switched into apology mode
25:03
and promised her that everything was okay and it would never happen again. And then somehow between the three of
25:09
them, all of this just suddenly stopped being an issue. Despite the commotion, Helen had no choice but to just carry on
25:16
with her day. However, only a couple hours later, Ashley realized that she
25:21
really needed help. With her mobile phone now destroyed, she quietly took Jack's phone and messaged anyone that
25:28
she could think of. We're talking friends back in Canada and even her new friends from church in England.
25:34
Basically, anyone that might respond quickly. And the message to everyone was very plain and simple, reading, "It's
25:40
Ashley. I need help. It's an emergency. Please." It was around 3:00 a.m. in
25:46
Vernon that Christy still answered her phone for her daughter. And in that moment, everything seemed to come out.
25:53
We're talking about the abuse, the fear, the lies, and the fact that she no longer felt safe around Jack. She would
26:00
even tell her mom that she wanted to come home immediately. and her family. Well, they wanted that for her, too. But
26:07
the thing is that CO testing rules were still unfortunately in place, meaning that the next possible flight was still
26:14
more than 48 hours away, which of course was not good news for Ashley. So,
26:19
between Christy and Ashley, the two decided to hatch a plan. If Jack was to get violent again, then she would leave
26:26
immediately and go straight to the airport. That meant no packing or waiting or messing around, but just
26:33
simply getting the hell out of there. And this was good news because it meant that for the first time since arriving
26:40
in England, Ashley finally had an exit strategy. However, here is the horrible
26:45
thing. But when an abuser knows that they no longer have control, well, that is when the real danger begins. And it
26:53
was sometime just after midday that Ashley's messages suddenly stopped.
27:00
Following that phone call to emergency services which had been made by Ashley's church friends, officers were not
Aftermath and legal proceedings
27:06
prepared for what they would find. Because amidst all of the chaos and horror, they also found eerie normaly.
27:13
Ashley had been beaten, strangled, and then stabbed more than 90 times with a kitchen knife in what Jack would later
27:19
describe as a frenzy. But what he did next was what really shocked officers.
27:24
According to all of the evidence available, he then hid the kitchen knife behind the radiator, picked up his
27:30
phone, and then started to film himself, and then standing there and covered in Ashley's blood while she lay motionless
27:37
behind him. He then confessed to the entire thing on camera. And then after filming this video, he wouldn't hand
27:43
himself in or even call the police for that matter. Instead, he just went and played Xbox. And we know this because
27:50
detectives found his controller to be covered in blood. By the way, it is worth noting here that the reason why
27:56
Ashley's church friends called the police is because apparently those messages sent by Ashley didn't quite
28:02
sound like her. Apparently the tone was very different to the usual. And as you
28:07
likely have guessed by now, that's because it wasn't actually Ashley, but Jack instead, who now had access to all
28:13
of her social media. And although he was telling all of her friends that she was actually okay, in reality, she was
28:20
actually dead. Extraordinarily, when police officers arrived, they actually found Jack on
28:26
FaceTime with his sister. And when police arrested him, he didn't fight, instead opting to try to excuse himself.
28:33
He said that he'd quote gone psychotic, that he'd taken drugs, and that all of
28:39
this wasn't his fault. By the way, toxicology reports would later show that he only had cannabis and prescribed
28:46
medication in his system, and none of this would explain any loss of reality. Detectives also found the knife hidden
28:52
behind the radiator, blood belonging to Ashley all over the apartment, and a myriad of messages and other digital
29:00
evidence. Faced with all of this, Jack decided not to fight the charges when he finally made it to court. Instead, he
29:07
pleaded guilty to murder, therefore saving her family the pain of a trial. His sentencing would take place later
29:13
that year at Chelmsford Crown Court. Ashley's family flew in all the way from Canada to attend where they hoped to see
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Jack get crushed by the law. And thankfully, the judge did not go easy on him for the murder of Ashley Wodssworth.
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Jack Sppel received a life sentence with a minimum term of 23 and 1/2 years
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before he can even be considered for parole. And so, of course, this means that Jack will likely spend the rest of
29:39
his adult life behind bars. And personally, I damn hope so. During the many victim impact statements, Christy
29:47
spoke about sleepless nights and the way that holidays now feel hollow, about how
29:52
birthdays no longer bring joy and only painful reminders. Meanwhile, her father
29:57
described how grief had changed him completely and how everyday life feels heavier. And somehow, in the middle of
30:05
all of that, Jack even wrote letters from prison to Ashley's family. In these letters, he blamed his intrusive
30:11
thoughts and poor mental health, adding that he was sorry.
30:18
You know what makes this case so unsettling is how common this pattern actually is. Jack didn't start with
30:25
violence or control, but small issues instead. Small issues, when packaged up,
30:30
kind of look like affection or care. But left unchecked, those insecurities took over. And when they did, any chance of
30:36
being a compassionate partner went completely out the window. I mean, the fact that he carved out her name in his
30:42
tattoo is absolutely diabolical. I have never heard anyone ever do that before.
30:47
This guy is psychopathic. I would like to highlight here that whenever people ask why didn't she leave sooner, you
30:53
have to remember the answer is never quite that simple. By the time that Ashley was murdered, she had known Jack
30:59
for almost a decade, which meant that he was not only just a friend or a partner, but he was her childhood, her future,
31:06
and her safe space. And so, walking away would have meant saying goodbye to years of her own life. This massively plays
31:13
into the dynamics of sunk cost fallacy. And I'm not going to lecture you guys about what precisely that is, but if
31:19
you're interested in learning a thing or two, go Google it. It is also worth noting here that for anyone who is ever
31:24
in a situation like Ashley, the best and safest thing you can do is leave without
31:30
notice. And tragically, the moment that she finally decided to go back home and book that flight was actually the moment
31:36
that she became in the most vulnerable position because when someone who was so obsessed with control finally loses it,
31:43
that is when they snap. Back home in Vernon, Ashley has been missed beyond words. She was a daughter,
31:51
a sister, and a friend to many. She was the kind of girl who made people feel
31:56
included without even trying. The one who always laughed too loud, and stayed
32:01
up late for a mate, and was always fair. She loved the outdoors, loved camping,
32:07
and loved road trips. She had this restless, curious energy, which kind of
32:12
makes it almost painfully fitting that she crossed an ocean to try to be with someone that she believed in. That was
32:18
Ashley through and through, by the way, because she always believed in people, even when she probably shouldn't have.
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When someone like that dies, it leaves a space that you can't really fill. During
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her memorials, people did fleetingly mention what happened to her, but they preferred to talk about her smile, her
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jokes, her personality, and her stubborn optimism. The horrible realization is
32:42
that by now, Ashley probably would have finished university. She would be traveling or building a career or maybe
32:49
even making new friends, maybe even living her life with an actual caring boyfriend. But tragically, instead of
32:57
all of that, all her family can carry is memories. Ashley flew across the world
33:02
believing that she was starting her future. However, instead, she walked straight into someone who couldn't stand
33:08
the idea of losing control. And when she finally chose herself, when she finally decided to come home, it tragically cost
33:16
her everything. Jack Sppel will spend decades behind bars. And hopefully he
33:21
will grow old in a cell with nothing but time to think about what he did. But as
33:26
we know, no sentence and no court ruling and no number of years will ever balance what Ashley and her family has lost.
33:34
There is no punishment that is equal to giving someone their life back. And tragically, all we are left is with this
33:41
story. And maybe that's why telling it is really important here. Because even if one person watching recognizes those
33:48
same warning signs and decides to leave their abusive relationship sooner and discreetly, then maybe Ashley's story
33:55
does in fact mean something. If you ever need help, then please, please reach out
34:00
to someone you can trust. Anyway, folks, on that note, I'm going
Outro
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to wrap this one up here today. I can see my battery is just about to die, so I'm going to go quickly. I'd like to say
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though, thank you so much for making it this far. I really do appreciate you being here. And of course, I'd like to
34:16
see you again next week if you'd like to drop by. Oh, and thanks again to HelloFresh for sponsoring today's video.
34:21
Go to hellofresh.com and use the code coffee house FM. Anyway, folks, that's all for me today. Thank you again and
34:27
see you next week. Until that moment arrives, though, remember to look after yourselves and of course each other.
34:33
Take care. Goodbye.