GUILTY UK - Ashley Wadsworth, 19, Canadian, murdered 1st Feb 2022, Chelmsford, Essex *Arrest*

[Dotta]

“She’s been to so many places already — Quebec, California, Mexico —

Huh? Everything I’ve read so far has made a point of saying it was her first time traveling abroad?

Maybe by "abroad" they meant another continent?
This report comes from Canada - the horse's mouth

 

[SkyBoomer]

“She’s been to so many places already — Quebec, California, Mexico — and spoke three languages, broadening her horizons is what inspired her.”

Huh? Everything I’ve read so far has made a point of saying it was her first time traveling abroad?
Killing of Canadian teen Ashley Wadsworth who flew to UK to meet boyfriend

All in North America.

 

[dotr]

Ashley Wadsworth: Chelmsford community to hold vigil for Canadian teen killed in Essex | ITV News Anglia
Saturday 5 February 2022
''A vigil is being held tonight to remember a Canadian teenager killed in Essex.''

''The vigil is due to take place on Saturday at 5.30pm GMT at a park on Brownings Avenue.

Prayers and blessings will be made by representatives from local churches including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A message from Ms Wadsworth's sister, Hailey, will also be read out and orchids laid.''

 

[JuicyLucy]

She had premonition...

Weeks before her death, Wadsworth reached out to friends for counsel | Vancouver Sun

So according to this, the police over here had been alerted to a potential risk, although tbf there are no details given about what specifically was giving cause for concern. That could well be grounds for an IOPC review imo.

 

[Smkd]

All in North America.

Indeed they are, but abroad just means a foreign country, not a foreign continent. And the article I linked says “first time leaving Canada”

“Her family says it was the first time Ashley Wadsworth had ever left Canada.”

 

[evilwise]

Do 23 year old men view themselves as boys? This is a man with a home where a friend from Canada was murdered. She was a guest for 3-4 months, and then he murdered her. No one else lived there.

I wonder whether he was working while she was visiting. Did he work during the week and take her on sightseeing trips on the weekends? Did she make meals for him and encourage him to see the mormon viewpoint?

People in general tend to view themselves in whatever way benefits them most. In the case of people who do objectively horrible things, more often than not they have some rationalization for why they're not responsible and "I'm just a kid" is a common one. Even old men cry out for their mothers if they die hard.

 

[Dotta]

According to the link I sent above...

When Police found him, he was in the bed, next to her dying.
She was covered by a comforter, all bloodied.
He was on the phone!

What does it say about his mental state/health?

Did Police barge into the flat smashing the door?
Or did somebody open the front door?

 

[Dotta]

What I just cannot comprehend is why somebody from his family or his friends didn't help her???

Didn't warn her???

She was left alone with a mentally disturbed monster.

Surely, everybody knew his problems, there must have been numerous red flags!

 

[HollyHunter9]

What I just cannot comprehend is why somebody from his family or his friends didn't help her???

Didn't warn her???

She was left alone with a mentally disturbed monster.

Surely, everybody knew his problems, there must have been numerous red flags!

This is what I keep thinking too! Surely he must've been showing some odd behaviour traits to friends & family over the years? Did no one think it was odd that a girl he had never met and was 5 years younger than him was not only coming over to visit from another country, but would be living with him and for over 4 months?! I'm sorry but the whole situation is odd to me.

If she was reaching out for help, she had clearly realised there was something not quite right about him and that she was possibly in danger, and this was only after a few weeks. So what about his friends & family? Who have known him much longer?

I keep thinking how scared she must've been, finally realising she was stuck alone in a foreign country with a psychopath. I think she tried to leave that day or he found out she had been asking for help. He also wasn't bothered about being caught either as he attacked her while she was on the phone to her family and then from the sounds of it just sat in bed with her and waited until the police arrived. Poor girl. RIP.

*All MOO at this stage of course.

 

[Dotta]

I think the best way in such a situation is to go to the Embassy of a native country.

Just run away and beg for help Embassy's officials.

They usually help their citizens in danger.

My friend was once in a dangerous situation while on holiday abroad and Polish Embassy organised her safe journey home.

 

[Skigh]

I wonder if he was taking drugs.

 

[Dotta]

I wonder if he was taking drugs.

Absolutely!
I don't want to sound offensive, but he looks like a drug addict to me!

 

[Gardenista]

“She’s been to so many places already — Quebec, California, Mexico — and spoke three languages, broadening her horizons is what inspired her.”

Huh? Everything I’ve read so far has made a point of saying it was her first time traveling abroad?
Killing of Canadian teen Ashley Wadsworth who flew to UK to meet boyfriend

Yes, I just read an article that said it was her first time out of Canada.

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

Absolutely!
I don't want to sound offensive, but he looks like a drug addict to me!

What does a drug addict look like?

 

[Dotta]

What does a drug addict look like?

Pale, emaciated, sickly, far away gaze etc.

Let me put it this way:

If I met him in a dark deserted alley, I would immediately turn around and run as quickly as my legs would carry me.
Oh, and I would use my vocal talents in a very noisy way.

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

Pale, emaciated, sickly, far away gaze etc.

Let me put it this way:

If I met him in a dark deserted alley, I would immediately turn around and run as quickly as my legs would carry me.
Oh, and I would use my vocal talents in a very noisy way.

Hah, don’t ever go to Essex then, you’ll be running all the time

 

[evilwise]

He probably had been overly attached to women in the past but they were women who just lived down the lane, ones who almost certainly were going to live in the UK their whole lives. No one had ever seen him in a truly desperate situation where a woman was going to leave him for the other side of the world.

 

[Dotta]

Hah, don’t ever go to Essex then, you’ll be running all the time

Hahaha
I have been to the UK and even worked as an au pair
I had fantastic time!
I especially liked British humour!

 

[ApparentlyInDenial]

That’s an oversimplification of what personality disorders entail, and respectfully, your anecdotal experience cannot account for all the intricacies of different personality disorders and how they manifest in each individual. Even specialist have difficulty diagnosing them and some find the diagnosis controversial because there’s a lot of confounding variables and people are just complicated.

I will gladly shut up if you have sources, but I generally feel like most of us are not qualified to make such confident assertions about what causes people to kill. If it were that simple, it wouldn’t keep happening. And your claim that the vast majority of people who kill have a personality disorder or psychosis is simply not true.

Of all homicides that had psychiatric reports at the time of conviction (n=1168):
11% had a personality disorder
6% had psychosis at the time of the offence

I completely agree with you, I was just forwarding one mainstream theory. Obviously none of us know anything about this guy's personal psychology, but if you look through the eyes of psychologists, academics, practitioners etc., there is consensus that violent murderers are not psychologically well-formed.

This is from the DOJ in the US (Psychopathology of Serial Murder: A Theory of Violence | Office of Justice Programs):

"The serial murderer is examined in the context of the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." The theory developed consists of three separate stages. Stage 1, called the "foundation of pathology," involves biological predisposition, environmental trauma and stressors, the development of esteem and control problems, and sexual dysfunction. Stage 2, called the "path of stressors and development to first murder," focuses on the development of maladaptive coping skills, retreat into a fantasy world, the commission of lesser crimes, the dissociative process, and finally the first kill. The third stage, called the "obsessive-compulsive and ritualistic cycle," involves the renewed urge to kill after the first killing, a cooling-off period, and the continuation of the cycle."

The so-called "dark triad" of personality disorders - Narcissist, Borderline, Antisocial - all share those three things I've highlighted in bold: 1. Esteem and control problems, 2. Maladaptive coping skills, 3. Dissociation. It's not a leap to diagnose someone displaying those traits with a PD, though of course PDs can be confused with things like bipolar disorder, substance abuse, and even biological issues.

The prison population is also an interesting place to look. According to NICE, in the UK an estimated 64% of male sentenced prisoners and 50% of female prisoners have a personality disorder (NICE, https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng66/documents/mental-health-of-people-in-prison-draft-scope2).

Academics in Iran found that 87.3% of women and 83.3% of men had a personality disorder at the time of committing the crime they were convicted for (PubMed, The Relationship between Personality Disorders and the Type of Crime Committed and Substance Used among Prisoners).

I think the overriding point for me is that violent offenders are not behaving 'normally', psychologically-speaking, and there has to be reasons for that; either psychosis, malformed emotional development, acute substance effects, etc.

 

[Dotta]

I wonder if him being covered with tattoos - including neck and face - is a sign of his PD?

Is it a form of self harm?

Was he addicted to them?

Did he feel so worthless that decided to "beautify" his whole body?

I can understand that somebody wants one or two discreet tattoos but he took it to the extreme.