Heartbroken widower pays tribute to murdered PCSO Julia James who ‘couldn’t do enough’

It took the jury just over an hour to convict Callum Wheeler for beating Julia James to death with a 3kg jack – her husband Paul James fought back tears as he paid tribute to her in court

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Julia James’ husband pays tribute to murdered PCSO

A heartbroken husband has paid tribute to a PCSO who “couldn’t do enough for others” as a “strange, heavily sexualised” loner was found guilty of her brutal murder.

In court, widowed Paul James fought back tears as he spoke of his “amazing” wife Julia, who was mugged in the woods in April 2021 while walking her dog.

It took the jury just over an hour to convict 22-year-old Callum Wheeler for beating his 53-year-old grandmother to death with a 3kg jack.

Mr James described his wife, who supports victims of domestic violence, as the “funniest person I’ve ever met”, adding: “She just helped everyone, she just couldn’t do enough.”

“She was just amazing, I was so proud of her. The work she did was just amazing, helping so many other people, women, who were in danger from men, bad men.”

He added, “I just hurt so much.”

Julia’s daughter Bethan Coles called her mother’s killer a “vile excuse for a human being” and a “menace to women”.

“He needs to be held accountable for what he did to my mother, but he’s also clearly a threat to women and it’s important to protect other women,” she added.

While Julia’s son Patrick Davis vowed to remember his mother’s “amazing life” and “not how it was ended by that monster.”

He added: “She was the best. She went without so we could grow up with things. There are just no words to describe how amazing she actually was.”

Canterbury Crown Court heard how the unemployed Wheeler, 22, had waited in the woods to “ambush” a lone woman armed with the meter-long gun.

The murderer, described by the police as a “complete loner”, planned the motiveless attack over “many days and weeks”, according to the court.

Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC said: “This defendant was an angry, violent, odd, heavily sexualised man.

“He has no psychic defenses available.”

She added: “He knew people were walking dogs in these woods, he knew there would be a lonely woman when no one else was around, if he could commit that attack if he chose the right moment would wait.”

Mrs James was walking her Jack Russell, Toby, in the familiar wooded area near her home in Snowdown, Kent, when Wheeler struck on April 27 last year.

She had taken her usual route to a beauty spot she knew as “Butterfly Corner” and was on her way back when her heart rate suddenly skyrocketed and she ran from her attacker, data from her Apple Watch showed.

The grandmother stumbled in a field and broke her wrist before being brutally beaten on the back of the head.

Even with immediate medical intervention, her injuries are “completely not survivable,” experts said.

The prosecutor said it wasn’t just one hit, but “it was over and over again”.

She also told the court that Wheeler “touched” the grandmother before her death after his DNA was found on her vest under two layers of clothing in “the area of ​​her left breast.”

Wheeler, who is being held in custody in a high-security unit at Broadmoor Hospital, had searched his computer for pornography and the term rape in the days leading up to the murder, the jury heard.

In custody, he exposed himself to female officers and attempted to masturbate in front of them, telling a staff member that Ms James “deserved to die”, the court heard.

He also said that he would go back into the forest and rape and kill a woman.

Following the sentencing, prosecutors Martin Yale convicted Wheeler of the “cowardly and callous” murder of the PCSO, who “had the right to walk her dog.”

“Whether they live in urban or rural communities, all women have the right to security and a life without fear of violence,” he added.

Lead investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Gavin Moss, said: “I hope Julia’s family can have a little peace of mind now that they know Wheeler has been convicted.”

Wheeler, from Aylesham, had admitted killing the PCSO but denied murder. No evidence was offered in his defense.

He will be sentenced at a later date.