A man who murdered a police community support officer in Kent has been handed a life sentence and will serve a minimum of 37 years in prison.
Callum Wheeler, 22, was found guilty in May of murdering Julia James, 53, as she walked her dog near her home in Snowdown, Kent, in April last year.
A court heard that Wheeler was waiting in Ackholt Woods and ambushed James with a 3kg metal railway jack. James’s watch recorded a jump in her heart rate upon spotting Wheeler and she ran “desperate to get away” but was chased down and struck repeatedly over the head. She was found lying face-down in a field by local people.
Wheeler, who lived with his father in the neighbouring village of Aylesham in Kent, admitted to killing James but denied murder. A jury of eight women and four men at Canterbury crown court convicted Wheeler of murder after an hour of deliberation.
Months before the attack, James twice spotted Wheeler lurking in the woods where she regularly walked her dog. She recounted to her husband that she had passed a “really weird dude”, and later pointed out Wheeler to her husband on a walk together in February 2021.
In the days before James’s murder, witnesses spotted Wheeler acting suspiciously in the area. In that period he visited pornographic websites 42 times and searched the word “rape”.
Passing sentence on Friday, the judge, Mr Justice Wall, said: “The attack you launched on her was brutal and vicious.”
The defendant was carried into court on Friday in handcuffs by staff from Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital, where he is being held.
James’s husband, Paul James, daughter Bethan Coles, 33, and son Patrick Davis, 24, read statements as Wheeler sat with his head bowed.
“My mum only wanted to walk her dog but had her life ended by this disgusting creature. I will not refer to him as a human being,” Davis said. His sister said the attack “haunts me every day of my life”.
Breaking down in tears, Paul James said his hopes and dreams were taken when his wife was murdered. “I actually felt I died, too.”
Wheeler’s DNA was found near the breast area of a vest James wore beneath her coat and jumper. The prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said it was “a murder involving sexual conduct”.
In the days after the attack, Wheeler roamed the area with the murder weapon, a 97cm-long cylindrical bar used to lift train tracks, protruding from his bag. The railway jack was later found in his bedroom.
Described by police as an “absolute loner”, Wheeler had no connection to the victim. He has a history of mental health problems and dropped out of school at 15.
After his arrest on 7 May 2021, Wheeler exposed himself to female police officers, tried to masturbate in front of them, and told custody staff that James had deserved to die. He said that if released he would rape and kill women.
Wheeler said: “You can’t go into the woods and expect to be safe.” He said he would go back to the scene of his crime and “have sex with women without their consent”.
Kent police officers called James, who joined the force in 2008, a “dedicated and devoted” officer who was “very much loved and known by staff of all ranks and roles”.
