The sister of a Canadian teenager murdered in Britain is calling for a change in UK law to make it easier to check whether someone has a criminal past.
Hailey Wadsworth says her sibling Ashley would still be alive if her family had known the web boyfriend who lured her to his Essex home had convictions against women for assault and harassment.
But she says it is harder to find out information like that here, unlike in Canada, so she and her family had no idea of Jack Sepple’s dark past.
And a year ago this week he strangled and stabbed 19-year-old Ashley, inflicting 90 wounds on her, after she had suffered increasing violence from him at his flat in Chelmsford.
Sepple, 23, was given life with a minimum 23 years and six months.
As the anniversary of the murder approaches, Hailey, 22, describes the violent run-up to her sister’s killing – and the fury the family still feels.
At Sepple’s trial it emerged he had eight previous convictions, nearly all for domestic violence. The judge said it showed a “clear pattern of violent and controlling behaviour for a number of women”.
It later emerged two of his previous partners and his own mum had taken out restraining orders against him. “Before the court case we had no idea about these previous convictions and Ashley had no idea at all,” said Hailey.
“There should be more of an open background check in England. Here you can search for anyone online to see if they have a criminal record – that’s how it should be.
“If we had known his background we’d never have let her go. Even though she was 19, I’d have dragged her away from that airport.”
Sepple met Ashley online when she was 12 and he was 15. She had always dreamed of visiting London and fell for the tattooed Brit. But once at his flat the romance turned sour.
Hailey witnessed his behaviour in chilling FaceTime video calls with her sister in the weeks before the murder.
She said: “Ashley called me and I could see there was glass everywhere. Sepple had hit her in the head with a glass. “She said, ‘he’s making me clean it all up now’ and then she hung up.
“About a week before she passed away we were on FaceTime and he got mad at her and threw objects, like candles and stuff, at her face.
“On the day she died we were on FaceTime as they were arguing. He jumped at her and she dropped the phone, but it fell on an angle and was propped up by a couch. I could see him punching her in the head.
"I said, ‘I’m hanging up, I’m calling for help’. I then got a call from their neighbour because Sepple had broken her phone and Ashley was there with her. She said, ‘he was beating me up… I don’t know what to do’. She whispered, ‘I’m scared’. I said, ‘you need to come home now’.
“We booked her a flight for two days later. I thought maybe he’d push her around, but I didn’t think he would end her life.”
The next morning Hailey made several calls to Sepple’s phone. “Next thing my phone rang. It was Essex Police asking me for a description of what my sister looked like,” said Hailey.
“I knew then Ashley was gone. I just dropped to the ground and screamed. I had to tell my mum and dad, ‘Ashley’s gone’.” Now Hailey is set to marry her fiance in September without her beloved sister. A cousin will carry Ashley’s picture down the aisle.
Hailey added: “Life without her is really hard. It never goes away.”
Ashley is buried in her home city of Vernon, British Columbia. Hailey added: “She was the nicest most innocent girl. She cared about everybody. She got robbed of her life.”
In Britain, the public can use the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme to ask police if a partner has convictions. It is known as Clare’s Law after Clare Wood, murdered in 2009 by her ex-boyfriend George Appleton, who had a record of violence against women.
Clare’s father Michael Brown campaigned for the law for five years.
It came into force in England and Wales in 2014, with later versions of the scheme emerging in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
But Hailey wants our government to go much further and follow Canadian authorities in making court convictions available through simple web searches for an offender’s name.
