Julia James murder trial: Jurors taken to spot where PCSO died
A jury has retraced the final steps of police community support officer, Julia James, who was beaten to death while walking her dog.
Mrs James, 53, died from head injuries near Ackholt Wood, close to her home in Snowdown in Kent, on April 27 last year.
On Tuesday (10 April) jurors in the trial of Callum Wheeler, who is accused of her murder, were taken to Mrs James's former home and along the footpath where she walked that day with her Jack Russell dog Toby.
The path led from a gate at the end of her garden, through a wooded area and along the edge of a farmer's field.
Mrs James's exact final movements were recorded by her smart watch.
She walked along an uneven path at the edge of the field and on to a bridle path at the edge of Ackholt Wood to a place known for an abundance of butterflies, that she and her husband Paul called the Butterfly Point.
The jury walked along the edge of a field full of crops to that point, where Mrs James turned round and began to walk home.
They were shown the point where she then made a detour away from a wooded area, the prosecution claim because she had seen Wheeler in the woods and wanted to get away.
A yellow marker showed the point a short distance away along a path next to a wheat field where her body was found.
Jurors have already been told that Mrs James had seen Wheeler in the same spot before, and described him to Mr James as "a really weird dude".
Prosecutor Alison Morgan QC also took the jurors to the house in Aylesham where Callum Wheeler, 22, was living at the time of her death on April 27 last year.
She showed jurors the home in Sunshine Corner Avenue, as well as a gap in the hedge that leads to Adisham Road that it is said Mr Wheeler walked through both on April 22 and the day of Ms James's death.
Mr Wheeler is on trial at Canterbury Crown Court for the murder of Mrs James. The 22-year-old admits killing her but denies murder.
On Monday, the court heard a smart watch Mrs James wore in her final moments captured a spike in her heart rate as she spotted her killer in woodland and tried to flee.
It is alleged Mr Wheeler used a metal railway jack to inflict fatal head injuries on the 53-year-old.
The trial continues.