A man has admitted killing PCSO Julia James for the first time - but denies murdering her.

Callum Wheeler's admission emerged as he went on trial accused of murdering the beloved mum-of-two while she walked her dog in the hamlet of Snowdown, between Canterbury and Dover, last April.

The 22-year-old, of Sunshine Corner Avenue in Aylesham, entered a not guilty plea to murder when he appeared in court in October.

But as his trial began at Canterbury Crown Court today, the prosecution said he accepted he had killed the PCSO, but denied the offence of murder.

The court heard Wheeler killed Julia using a "large, metal railway jack", with jurors shown a photo of the alleged murder weapon.

In an opening statement, prosecutor Alison Morgan QC told jurors: "The evidence suggests that [Julia's] attacker was waiting in the woods for someone to attack and then ambushed her.

"Julia tried to escape her attacker but was subjected to a brutal and fatal attack. She sustained catastrophic injuries and died where she fell."

Jurors have been told that while Wheeler denies murder, "he does now accept that he was the person that killed Julia James".

Julia, 53, was discovered dead on a footpath near Ackholt Wood about 400 metres from her home, on the afternoon of April 27 last year.

She had been working from home on the day of her death, but had taken her Jack Russell, Toby, on a walk through countryside behind where she lived.

Today, jurors were told how Julia lived in Snowdown with her husband Paul, and was in the habit of taking Toby for afternoon walks.

"She would often walk to a place that was of particular personal significance to her, which she knew as ‘butterfly corner’," says Ms Morgan.

The court heard Wheeler was not employed and was living with his father in Sunshine Corner Avenue, Aylesham, at the time of Julia's death.

"In the months before the attack, he was someone who had been seen by a number of witnesses during the daytime walking around the local area," says the prosecution.

A man believed to be Wheeler was spotted both by Ackholt Wood - where Julia was found dead - and walking in her street, The Crescent, about seven months prior to her death, Ms Morgan said.

Julia had allegedly encountered Wheeler in the vicinity of Ackholt Wood in the months before the killing.

"Julia James was herself aware of the presence of a strange male in the area of Ackholt Wood," the prosecutor said. "She commented to her husband that she had passed someone she described as 'a really weird dude' on the Ackholt Wood path."

Julia's husband was walking with her in February 2021 - two months before her death - when she pointed the man out to him “just metres away from where Julia would be killed”, says Ms Morgan.

After Julia's death, her husband helped police put together an e-fit of the male walker, which the prosecution says bears "a striking similarity" to Callum Wheeler. Mr James later identified Wheeler in an identity parade.

The court heard Wheeler called 999 on April 17 - 10 days before Julia's death - causing police to visit his home in Aylesham.

A video taken from police body-worn cameras shows officers interacting with Wheeler on his doorstep. In the footage, officers ask Wheeler if he is OK, to which he is heard to respond: "Why are you talking to…go on, get lost. Go on, get lost, go on, go and bother someone else."

The video then shows police ask a man - believed to be Wheeler's father - if everything is OK, to which he says: "It's all right - he [called 999]…for some reason, I’m not sure." The front door is then shut and the clip ends.

The prosecution says multiple witnesses saw Wheeler out walking in the Aylesham area in the days leading up to Julia's death.

The jury was told that on April 26 - the day before the killing - a witness saw Wheeler walking in Spinney Lane, Aylesham, carrying a bag with a long, red object protruding from one end of it.

"If that is correct it means the defendant was roaming around this area armed with that metal bar 24 hours before he came to attack Julia James," says Ms Morgan.

On the day Julia died, Wheeler's mobile phone disconnected from his home wifi at about 12.30pm. At about 1.10pm, he was seen in Aylesham carrying a bag with a long item inside it, the prosecution explained.

"At about 1pm the defendant was out and about with a bag with the murder weapon in it," says Ms Morgan. "He was in the area of Ackholt Wood by just before 2pm."

Data from an Apple watch Julia was wearing on the afternoon she died shows the route she walked that day.

Jurors were shown a map, which shows the route Julia took through her back garden, around a field and to the "butterfly place" in Ackholt Wood, before turning back on herself.

Julia's heart rate and walking pace in the moments leading up to her death were also captured by her watch.

There is a moment before Julia's death, Ms Morgan says, when her pace "radically changed". Her heart rate soared to 145bpm, and she "took a sudden detour" out of Ackholt Wood.

"She began to move along the side of a field," says Ms Morgan. "She had run out of the wood, doubtless to try and escape her attacker."

"She was chased by her attacker, and it is my view that as she ran she fell either from the first blow from her attacker or by tripping," says Ms Morgan.

Smart watch data shows Julia's last heart rate was recorded at 2.43pm. Wheeler is said to have covered up a patch of her blood using some grass, but is believed to have left the scene "relatively soon after".

A pathologist later described the attack on Julia as "a violent and sustained blunt force trauma assault to the head", the court is told.

Wheeler is said to have been seen back on Spinney Lane shortly after 3pm, before being picked up by several CCTV cameras heading back in the direction of his home.

The prosecution says CCTV shows Wheeler "carrying a blue and black bag... and the murder weapon - the railway jack - with plastic bags covering the end, as was the case when it came to be found".

Julia's body was discovered shortly after 4pm, by a family out walking in Ackholt Wood.

"They noticed a small dog with its lead but not with an obvious owner," says Ms Morgan. "That dog was of course Julia’s dog Toby, who had remained in the vicinity after the attack on Julia."

"They looked around for an owner and it was then that they saw Julia James' body lying on the ground. After not receiving any response they called 999," Ms Morgan added.

Details of the injuries Julia sustained were revealed to the jury.

"She had catastrophic head and brain juries," says Ms Morgan. "These injuries were completely unsurvivable even with immediate medical attention."

The prosecution says Julia had also sustained a fracture to her left wrist while she was still alive, "consistent with a fall on an outstretched hand".

Experts agreed Julia's death "would have been very, very quick", adds Ms Morgan.

The prosecution says there were "no signs of sustained or violent sexual assault", but adds: "The lack of such injuries would not necessarily rule that out."

Julia had been a police community support officer since 2008, and worked within the domestic violence unit at Canterbury police station.

A post-mortem investigation revealed she suffered "significant head injuries", sparking a widespread hunt for her killer.

"Julia tried to escape her attacker but was subjected to a brutal and fatal attack. She sustained catastrophic injuries and died where she fell..."

Hundreds of police officers spent weeks scouring land surrounding the rural hamlet of Snowdown.

The jury was told of the "considerable police presence" in the Snowdown area following Julia's death.

The prosecution alleges that the day after Julia's death, Wheeler "went out again carrying the weapon he had used to murder her".

"Why he did that is known only to him," says Ms Morgan. "It could be that he was goading the police that were in the vicinity, or it could be that he was looking for somewhere to dispose of the weapon."

The day after Julia's death, witnesses saw Wheeler in the Aylesham area, says the prosecution. They say he was carrying a bag with an item poking out of it, covered in a Tesco carrier bag.

A dashcam video shown to the court captures one man's encounter with Wheeler in Pond Lane, Aylesham, the day after Julia's death. He challenges Wheeler, asking "what are you up to?" before Wheeler runs away towards Aylesham.

The man also took two clear images of Wheeler which were later released by police as part of a press appeal, leading to more witnesses coming forward, the jury was told.

The prosecution says Wheeler can be seen in the images "with his black-and-blue holdall, and with the metal bar covered at one end with the Tesco carrier bag".

Ms Morgan alleges that the day after killing Julia, Wheeler was out “playing games... running around trying to avoid police officers... running in and out of hedges, and into wooded areas".

On April 30 - three days after Julia's death - two witnesses reported seeing a man "looking weird", standing in Spinney Lane and watching police as they guarded the crime scene.

The prosecution alleges that Wheeler was out carrying the murder weapon again on May 4 - a full week after Julia's death.

Ms Morgan says that in the days after the tragedy, Wheeler "continued to tour around the area, sometimes carrying his bag, sometimes carrying his murder weapon".

"He kept a check on the police cordon... he concerned members of the public," she adds.

On May 7, the clear photo taken of Wheeler in Pond Lane the day after Julia's death was circulated by police via the press. Officers visited his home to arrest him shortly before 9.30pm that day, the court was told.

Police were let into Wheeler's home in Sunshine Corner Avenue by his father, but Wheeler "had barricaded himself into his bedroom", says the prosecution.

During his arrest, Wheeler denied his involvement in Julia's death, while making comments such as: "Sometimes I do things I cannot control", the prosecution claims.

Inside Wheeler's bedroom, officers found the murder weapon - a railway 'jack handle' - wrapped in plastic bags, the court is told.

The prosecution tells the jury that Wheeler's DNA was found on Julia's clothing such as her coat and Wellington boot - and on a white vest top she was wearing beneath two layers of clothing.

"Sometimes I do things I cannot control..."

Ms Morgan says the jury must consider how the DNA came to be on her vest top, "underneath her grey jumper, underneath her blue coat" - and "what the defendant must have done, must have touched, for it to be there".

The court heard Julia James' blood was found on trainers owned by Wheeler.

The alleged murder weapon - a 'jack' typically used to lift parts of the railway - measured nearly a metre in length at 96.6cm and weighed more than 3kg, the court heard.

Julia James' blood was found at various places on the railway jack, while Callum Wheeler's DNA was also found upon it, says the prosecution.

Particles from the railway jack pole were also later found in Julia James' hair, the court heard.

Jurors were told that tomorrow, they will be visiting Aylesham and Snowdown. They will see sites such as Julia James' street and places at which Wheeler was spotted on CCTV. They will also walk the route she took on the afternoon of her death.

Concluding her opening statement, Ms Morgan defines murder as "unlawful killing of another person with intention of killing that person or causing them at least really serious harm".

The prosecutor said there will be "no psychiatric or medical evidence suggesting he was not capable of forming the intention to murder".

"How it is that the defendant will suggest that, when he hit Julia James repeatedly over the head with that large metal pole, he did not intend to cause her at least really serious harm is a matter for him," says Ms Morgan.

She adds that the prosecution believes Wheeler “waited for Julia James or another vulnerable female to be in that woods”.

“He waited to ambush her, he chased her down,” she says. “She ran, desperate to get away from her attacker."

Ms Morgan adds: "Unable to outrun him, he struck her. She fell to the ground. When she was face down on the ground he struck her again, and again, and again.

"She had no chance of survival. As he hit her in that way repeatedly using that weapon, he knew that, and he intended it," claims Ms Morgan.

The trial, presided over by High Court Judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, is expected to last four weeks.

The trial continues.