Canadian teen killed in Chelmsford died from stab wounds, inquest hears

She'd travelled to the UK late last year

A police cordon on Tennyson Road earlier this month
Author: Sam Russell, PAPublished 10th Feb 2022
Last updated 10th Feb 2022

A Canadian teenager who met her boyfriend through an online dating app and travelled to the UK late last year died of stab wounds to the chest, an inquest has heard.

Ashley Wadsworth, 19, was pronounced dead at an address in Tennyson Road in Chelmsford, Essex, on February 1st.

Her boyfriend, Jack Sepple, has been charged with her murder.

The 23-year-old, of Tennyson Road, Chelmsford, was not asked to enter pleas at an earlier hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court and was remanded in custody until a further hearing at the court on March 7.

An inquest into Ms Wadsworth's death was opened in Chelmsford on Thursday.

The hearing was told that the teenager was found unresponsive and paramedics confirmed life extinct at 4.38pm.

A post-mortem examination recorded her provisional medical cause of death as "stab wounds to the chest", the coroner's officer said.

Essex's senior coroner, Lincoln Brookes, suspended the inquest proceedings pending the outcome of crown court proceedings.

Ms Wadsworth, originally from Vernon, British Colombia, 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.

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