Daughter of murdered PCSO Julia James, 53, shares poignant photo of her mother

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Murdered PCSO Julia James’ family have visited floral tributes as police investigate whether her killing could have had a sexual motive – or if the attack was revenge for her work in stopping domestic violence.

Julia’s colleagues today pledged to leave ‘no stone unturned’ in their hunt for the killer as Kent Police continued to comb woodland.

Meanwhile, Julia’s daughter Bethan Coles, son in law Chase Coles and her young grandson Jaxxon visited a commemorative mining wheel memorial which has been covered in floral tributes from locals in Aylesham, Kent.

The group were seen kneeling down, inspecting the flowers and reading the dozens of heartfelt tributes this afternoon.

The Union Flag in the historic Market Square in Aylesham has been lowered to half mast in her honour.

It comes as police confirmed revelations that a flasher had made an indecent exposure weeks before she died from ‘blunt force injuries’ was ‘an important line of enquiry’. 

Aylesham Parish Council chair Mark Townsend brought the flag down at around 2.30pm today.

He said on the village green: ‘This is a fitting tribute to someone who has been an enormously valued member of our community.

 

‘We’ve never had anything like this happen here. It’s hit this community extremely hard. There’s no quick fix to this.

‘Hopefully the police will get the perpetrator.’

A blue tent has been erected in the village green as a hub for concerned residents to speak to the police. 

Julia’s cousin Sam Griffin simply said ‘our family is heartbroken,’ in an Instagram tribute.

She wrote: ‘My beautiful cousin was brutally taken from us on Tuesday.

‘If anyone has any information, no matter how small…please report it to Kent Police.’ 

Meanwhile, Julia’s uncle Michael Turnbull pleaded for the public’s help to ‘find this monster before he can cause more grief to another family’.

He described her killer as ‘some worthless cowardly excuse for a human being’, and said Julia was killed ‘for no other reason than his own sense of self gratification’.

It comes as it emerged the National Crime Agency has been drafted in to assist Kent Police in the murder hunt. 

They were first spotted assessing the scene yesterday and will provide ‘specialist support and advice’ to aid the local force investigating the puzzling mystery. 

A police helicopter was seen hovering over the village last night for the first time, while the search now appears to be moving away from the remote bridleway where Julia, 53, was found dead, just a few hundred yards from her home in Snowdown. 

Investigators combed nearby fields this morning, potentially tracing possible routes the killer could have used to flee the scene.

Officers in Hi-Vis jackets man every public footpath entrance in order to protect the vast crime scene while the meticulous search for a murder weapon continues.

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Richards would not reveal yesterday whether the body was fully clothed when discovered but said: ‘There are number of potential motives and I’d be lying if I didn’t consider [a sex attack] as one of them.’

Another theory being explored is that her death was revenge for her police work in the Canterbury area, in which she specialised in domestic violence.

Meanwhile, daughter Bethan Coles today posted an image of her and her mother smiling on Facebook, adding a thin blue line circle in a nod to the emergency services. 

Son-in-law Chase Coles has added a similar filter around the overlaying text which reads: ‘Help us find #justiceforjulia. Call Kent Police 0800 0514 526,’ alongside two blue love hearts. 

The family has paid an emotional tribute to the ‘fiercely loyal’ officer, whose death in a quiet Kent hamlet has sparked a huge response.

Elsewhere, an official bouquet of flowers was today left by members of Kent Police on a village green mining memorial, which has been covered in tributes from locals.  

The note attached reads: ‘For our dear colleague Julia, a service so highly regarded. A precious life so tragically taken. We will leave no stone unturned. Your colleagues, Kent Police.’

Another tribute was left from colleagues in the Vulnerability investigation team who Julia worked with at Canterbury police station to help domestic abuse victims.

It read: ‘Dear Julia, you were the kindest, most beautiful woman and officer. You will be missed, never replaced and always in our thoughts. Rest in peace Julia. From Elly, Andy and your VIT colleagues.’

One PCSO wrote a poem – something Julia enjoyed writing and sharing on Facebook herself.

It read: ‘As PCSOs we are quite a crowd, a promise to you to make you proud.

‘Julia you were a ray of sun. Rest up now, your work is done.

‘Always part of our blue line. Now be free, go and shine.’

Another floral tribute left in the historic market square promises Julia her ‘police family will get you justice’.  

The victim’s uncle, Mr Turnbull, posted on Facebook today: ‘Julia has been taken from us by some worthless cowardly excuse for a human being for no other reason than his own sense of self gratification to justify what he did, leaving behind a family full of broken hearts and sadness.

‘Please share this and let us find this monster before he can cause more grief to another family. #Justiceforjulia’

His plea for help followed a heartfelt tribute alongside a picture of Julia with her daughter Bethan Coles – who also changed her Facebook profile picture to the same selfie following her mother’s death.

Mr Turnbull’s tribute read: ‘This is Julia and her daughter Bethan. Julia is my niece, I have loved Julia since the day she was born.

‘Julia is a daughter to my lovely sister, a mother to two children Bethan and Patrick and grandmother to Jaxxon.

‘Julia is funny, kind, caring, always saw the good in people and most of all full of love.’

Julia’s sister in law also called for the public to ‘help catch the monster’ who killed her.

Julia’s close friend Tammy Winstone urged locals to report anything strange or unusual however insignificant it may seem.

She wrote on Facebook on Friday night: ‘Somewhere out there, living and breathing is the person that did this. Walking amongst you and your communities.

‘You think this could never happen to you. I’m afraid to tell you that it can.

‘Anything you may have seen, heard or even had a gut feeling about. Maybe someone you’ve seen out and about, on a train, on a bus, in a supermarket.

‘Maybe you felt bad energy yet didn’t note a description. That doesn’t matter, just knowing where and when in this world now can be enough for CCTV to cast a net. Please Call it in!

‘Help us seek Justice for Julia.’

In a poignant statement last night, Julia’s family said: ‘There are no words to adequately describe the void left in our lives by the death of our mum.

‘She was so much to so many people; a wife, mother, daughter, nanny, sister and a friend.

‘Mum was fiercely loyal, she loved with her whole heart and nothing was too much trouble for the people she cared about.

‘She had a beautiful smile and was always quick to laugh, she was so naturally funny with a brilliant sense of humour.

‘It’s difficult to describe a person in a few sentences, to describe who they truly were is impossible, but the people who knew her will know how kind she was and how she would bring so much fun and life to a room.

‘Her loss will be felt by us every moment of every day. She will be so sorely missed. As a family we are trying to understand how we will navigate our lives without her, it seems an impossible task.

‘We would like to thank everybody who has messaged and left flowers, the outpouring of love and support from friends, the local community and our policing family has been enormous.

‘After meeting with the police we have every confidence that they are doing everything within their power to find the person responsible and I urge everybody who may have any information, however small or insignificant to contact the police. You could be helping us get justice for Julia.’

The police worker was found on a path at the edge of a field behind her house at 4pm in neighbouring Snowdown on Tuesday afternoon with her faithful Jack Russell, Toby, by her side.

Police are treating her death as murder and fear she may have been killed by a random stranger. Officers investigating the tragedy have been made aware of another potential incident earlier this month.

Kelly Adsia, a PCSO who knew Ms James from Canterbury, came to see the floral tributes which had been laid by members of the public for her friend at a park in Aylesham village.

She accepted that people may be concerned as her killer is still at large as she said everyone who knew the victim is ‘in shock’ and ‘all looking after each other’.

She said: ‘I know that my colleagues will not stop – they will do that for anybody – but they will not stop until we find whoever did this.

‘If they (the killers) knew Julia and met her for even five seconds they would not have done this – even if they had just said hello to her, they would not have done this.

‘We want to remember her and not what has happened – that is what we want to focus on.

‘We are never going to know (what happened) until somebody finds them. 

‘It is one thing we are all good at, thank God, which is looking after each other.

‘She was involved in so many people’s lives. We all know her to a certain extent and we are all looking after each other.

‘We are just completely in shock and completely numb and can’t compute it at all. We are just trying to focus on the amazing times we had with her, the laughs and the hugs, rather than what happened because that (her killing) dehumanises her.’

She said that she could not find the words to describe Ms James and how great a loss her death is.

Ms Adsia said: ‘You can say amazing and wonderful but it is not enough and it sounds like a cliche. When you say that someone is lovely, it makes them sound like she was a wet lettuce and she wasn’t .

‘She was so cheeky, funny and naughty. She would walk into the office and we would all be laughing. She was just like a ray of sunshine.

‘There are just not the words you can use (to describe her). She was just so wonderful and lovely.’

ACC Richards said she died from ‘blunt forces injuries’ after she was hit repeatedly over the head by a heavy implement.

The officer leading the investigation said: ‘We do not at this stage have any identified suspects. We are keeping all options open while we fully investigate the circumstances of this matter and try to understand exactly what happened. We do not at this stage understand the motive for the attack.

‘I would like to appeal for witnesses. If anybody saw anything suspicious or strange on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week we are very, very anxious to speak to them.’

Earlier Tim Smith, deputy chief constable of Kent Police, said: ‘I can confirm that we have launched a murder investigation, we have hundreds of officers working on that investigation.

‘I can’t go into a lot of detail for perhaps very obvious reasons, but it is fair to say there are a number of different lines of inquiry, we are working very hard to identify a motive. It is right to say we have got no clear suspects at this time.

‘We have huge teams of very specialist officers working on this to try to get to the bottom of this.’

Asked if police had been able to rule out if the murder could have been sexually motivated, he replied: ‘That will be an important line of enquiry, I am not able to say either way at this stage. We are keeping a very open mind about the motive.

‘At this time I think we can say as much as Julia died from significant head injuries.’

‘We recognised with such a crime of this nature there will be a lot of speculation, I am not able to say at this stage what we think have motivated this crime. At this stage it would be wrong for me to speculate at this stage.

‘The advice I would give people is to make sure they know what has happened. You have asked the question about stranger attacks, that remains a possibility, so I would want people in that area to know that and make decisions about their everyday lives and how they live it,’ he added to BBC Radio Kent.

The comments came as it emerged there had been a ‘flasher’ in the village but it had not been reported. One woman told The Times: ‘The victim was shocked she didn’t want take much notice. She didn’t take it further.’ 

And it came the day after it was revealed that a female dog walker was confronted by a prowler in a van one mile away from where the murder happened.

The woman is said to have been accosted by a man in a white transit vehicle as she walked along a quiet path in the village of Nonnington, Kent, two weeks ago.  She managed to distract him before fleeing and shouting out for help.

It is also understood PCSOs patrolling the village near Canterbury have warned women out walking their dogs to ‘veer from their normal route’ and avoid the woodland areas after their colleague’s death. 

Hundreds of police are scouring the crime scene for clues, with colleagues of the murdered PCSO paying tribute to their fallen comrade, promising her: ‘Your duty is done. We will take it from here’.

The message from the ‘guys in blue’ was among a growing number of flowers, cards and candles left for her, in her home village of Snowdown, where she was attacked on a footpath while walking her dog after finishing her shift 48 hours ago. 

As Kent Police investigate the murder of one of their own, it has emerged: 

• Detectives piece together Julia James final movements in the hour before she was murdered after leaving her home with her dog. She is believed to have been working from home and just finished for the day. There have been no arrests;
• Officers continue to search woodland for clues as hunt for Julia’s killer continue. Police are also going door-to-door and have visited a traveller site close to crime scene in hunt for witnesses;
• Julia’s married her husband Paul, a hypnotherapist, in 2017. She has two children – a daughter who also works for the police and a 23-year-old son – as well as an infant grandson.
• Her ex-partner Wayne also admits it could be something to do with her work in the domestic violence unit. He added: ‘It immediately reminded me of what happened with Lin and Megan Russell in Chillenden, which is just 2.5miles away’; 

 

Julia’s former partner also told MailOnline he fears the ‘love of his life’ may have been killed due to her job helping victims of domestic violence, with dozens of her police colleagues now carrying out fingertip searches on the route she had taken before she died. 

Mrs James’ neighbours are said to be ‘scared’ that a dangerous ‘nutter is on the loose’ as it emerged she may have been killed by a random attacker with locals admitting they are now too ‘terrified’ to walk their own dogs after the married mother-of-two died.

Residents of Snowdown, near Dover, have been urged to be vigilant after Mrs James, who had worked as a PCSO for nearly 15 years and had been commended for bravery for chasing down a shoplifter, was found dead. 

Kent Police have not revealed if they have found a murder weapon, but with van after van of officers arriving to search paths, hedges and woodland, it suggests not. A specialist dog unit has also been brought in to aid search teams in the trees next to where Julia was found dead and later a team of men with metal detectors arrived, suggesting they are looking for a hidden metallic item like a hammer or knife.  

As officers sealed off fields and footpaths in the area, mourners left flowers on the commemoration wheel for Snowdown’s historic colliery and at the entrance to a bridleway where Julia took her final journey.

One from colleagues had a note which read: ‘PCSO Julia James. Your duty is done. Take it easy for now we will take it from here! Thinking of your family at this time. From the guys in blue xx’ Another bouquet was left by a friend Becki with a note calling her ‘the kindest person I’ve ever met’, and thanking her for always making her laugh. 

Referring to locals’ claims that a female dog walker was confronted by a prowler in a van, a spokesman for Kent Police said: ‘This is a live investigation and we continue to carry out enquiries to establish the circumstances. 

‘We will not be commenting or speculating on any individual lines of enquiry at this time.’

The small hamlet of Snowdown, a former mining community halfway between Canterbury and Dover, are deep in grief and shock today, and many are also fearful. 

Charles Woodgate, who represents Aylesham, Eythorne and Shepherdswell on Dover District Council, said: ‘People in the village are scared there was some crazy nutter in the woods who is now on the loose. They fear it was a stranger who killed Julia and hopefully the police catch them quickly.’

Wayne Davis, who was with Julia for 13 years before their split in 2009, said he cannot comprehend how anyone would want to hurt her – but suggested that her work in Kent Police’s domestic violence unit is also being looked at in case she was attacked by someone with a vendetta. 

Speaking to MailOnline today, he said: ‘We don’t know if it’s a random attack or whether she was targeted by someone, possibly because of her job. Whoever has done this needs to be arrested as soon as possible because we don’t know if it’ll happen again. A lot of people walk their dogs down that path, many of them alone.’

Family friend Sean Simmonds, who lives opposite Mrs James and her husband Paul, told how he would often talk to her about her job. Mr Simmonds, who was potentially the last person to see her alive as she walked her Jack Russell terrier Toby on Tuesday afternoon, said he too feared she had been targeted through her job.

He said: ‘I used to talk to her about her job quite a bit, she said she was a PCSO who was mainly office and worked with victims of domestic violence. She liked her job very much. I’ve wondered whether she was the victim of an enraged husband whose wife she helped leave the family home due to abuse but she never told me that she’d been threatened by anyone or had any grievances with anyone.’

The case has chilling echoes of one of Britain’s most notorious murder cases, which took place in the neighbouring village of Chillenden, Kent, 25 years ago, when Dr Lin Russell, 45, and her daughter Megan, six, were bludgeoned to death with a hammer as they walked their family dog. Nine-year-old Josie Russell suffered horrific injuries but made a full recovery. 

Michael Stone was jailed for life for two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, but still protests his innocence, claiming that serial killer Levi Bellfield did it. Stone’s repeated attempts to have his convictions overturned have all failed.  

Julia had found love with hypnotherapist Paul James, 57, and the couple married in 2017. She has a son, 23, and her daughter is also thought to work with Kent Police. It is understood Mrs James’s family are being looked after by police family liaison officers. 

She joined the police 15 years ago after working for Kent County Council and in 2010 received a commendation for bravery after chasing down a man suspected of shoplifting in Ashford shopping centre. Her patch was the town of Tenterden, and describing herself to the local paper in 2013 she said: ‘I am a people person and love being in the community’. 

Wayne Davis, who was with Mrs James for 13 years before their split in 2009, told MailOnline he had earlier in the day texted their son Patrick a Facebook link about a woman being found dead on a local path. 

He asked Patrick if he knew what was going on and his son messaged back that he did not but said there was a ‘load of police’ around the village. However, when Patrick returned to the home he shares with his girlfriend hours later in Dover he was told the awful news and rang Mr Davis in tears to say ‘that woman is mum’.

Mr Davis added: ‘It immediately reminded me of what happened with Lin and Megan Russell in Chillenden, which is just 2.5miles away.’

Search teams are continuing to scour woodland and fields today as they try to find the killer of PCSO James after she was found dead on a remote footpath near her home on Tuesday.

Five marked Kent Police vans arrived at the secluded scene at Ackholt Wood near Aylesham, Kent at around 9am as search efforts in the murder investigation, codenamed Operation Sark, appeared to ramp up.

Eight marked vans and eleven marked and unmarked cars were parked on a 100 metre stretch of the road near to where grandmother of one Julia, 53, was found dead on Tuesday.

Dozens of officers wearing police caps and face masks were seen being briefed while holding rakes to search undergrowth with.

They lined up before entering the public footpath around 9.30am to continue searching the vast remote woodland for clues.

A bunch of flowers has been left at the scene.

A note attached titled ‘Thinking of you’ read: ‘Dearest Julia. R.I.P. You made me laugh. The kindest person I ever met. Love Becki x.’

Julia’s former partner Wayne Davis said of their son: ‘He’s only 23-years old and he’s lost his mum. He is absolutely devastated. I remember what it was like when I lost my mother and I knew it was going to happen because she’d been ill. I can’t imagine what he’s going through.

‘We don’t know any more about what’s happened other than it looks like Julia was walking the dog at the time. We don’t know if it’s a random attack or whether she was targeted by someone, possibly because of her job.  

‘She was a lovely, cheerful person. Always happy and smiling. The last time I saw Julia was in 2017. My mother was ill and was too poorly to pick up her prescription. I’d gone to the local chemist and Julia shouted out my name in the car park and we had a catch-up.

‘She told me that she’d started working at Canterbury police station on domestic violence. I joked to her ‘what? Giving it out?’ and she laughed.

‘I probably wouldn’t have been able to get away with that when we were together but she was a really friendly person who had a big caring side. She always had our son’s best interests at heart.

‘Whoever has done this needs to be arrested as soon as possible because we don’t know if it’ll happen again. A lot of people walk their dogs down that path, many of them alone.’ 

He later told the Sun: ‘He [Patrick] was devastated. Julia was the love of my life, but we separated, as couples sometimes do.

‘She was a lovely woman. She was walking her dog a lot. What she did as a PCSO was not just a job – it was a way of life.’

‘What I personally find odd, is it’s happened in the middle of nowhere,’ he said. It’s a mystery. The police know more than what they’re saying – they want to catch who has done it.

‘For something like that to happen, in the middle of nowhere – you don’t know whether it’s just random.’

Mr Davis added: ‘It immediately reminded me of what happened with Lin and Megan Russell in Chillenden, which is just 2.5miles away.’

The path where Mrs James body was found is just two and a half miles from Cherry Garden Lane in the neighbouring village of Chillenden, Kent, where Lin Russell was murdered alongside her daughter Megan in July 1996.

Michael Stone, who was later convicted of the double murder, also left Dr Russell’s nine-year-old daughter Josie fighting for life in the attack. 

Stone attacked the family as they walked their dogs in the surrounding countryside. 

Several police vehicles arrived in Snowdown today and forensics teams were seen working close to the bridal path on which Mrs James’s body was found. No arrests have been made in the case. 

Sean Simmonds, who lives opposite the semi-detached, three-bedroom home Mrs James shares with her husband Paul, said he saw her leave the house to walk her dog at 3pm on Tuesday but did not see her return. 

She was found dead an hour later on a bridleway on the edge of Ackholt Wood and fields off the Aylesham Road area of Snowdown, a former coal mining town close to Dover.

It is understood Mrs James had been working from home and had taken her dog out for a walk afterwards.  

Mr Simmonds, 57, said he was told by police that the small dog ‘stayed with’ Mrs James following her death and was found alongside the grandmother’s body. 

He said: ‘I was polishing my car on the driveway and I looked up and saw Julia walking past on the other side of the road with the dog.

‘She was heading towards the woods at the back, I’d occasionally bump into her there when I was out walking my two dogs. I didn’t see her come back. Around 4pm, the police arrived and started cordoning off the area.’  

Neighbours said Mrs James regularly exercised her dog along the country footpaths near to her home, which is on a 1930s miners’ housing estate in the hamlet. 

A friend of Mrs James’ son Patrick Davis said: ‘Patrick is devastated as you can imagine. His mum was such a lovely person, I cannot imagine who would want to do her any harm.

‘I know she worked as a PCSO and helped victims of domestic violence.

‘Patrick has thanked friends for their support and kind words but he just needs time to himself at the moment.’

Neighbour Mr Simmonds added: ‘I’m a paramedic and I work in the emergency services so I knew by the amount of police it was for something serious. We found out just how serious a while later, it’s such a shock. 

‘I used to talk to her about her job quite a bit, she said she was a PCSO who was mainly office and worked with victims of domestic violence. She liked her job very much. 

‘She was always quite upbeat and cheerful. When we did stop to chat it tended to be about our work because we both work for the emergency services so there was some common ground. I know she had worked from home mainly over the last year or so because of the pandemic.’

It remains unclear how Mrs James died, but a post mortem is due to be held to establish her cause of death. 

Home Secretary Priti Patel has offered her condolences to the family of PCSO James. She tweeted: ‘So saddened to hear of the death of @kent-police PCSO Julia James. I offer my sincere condolences to Julia’s friends, family and colleagues at this awful time.’

Assistant Chief Constable Tom Richards said: ‘Officers are carrying out a number of lines of enquiry to establish the circumstances and people in the Snowdown area will see an increased police presence as a result.

‘It saddens me to confirm that the victim was a serving PCSO for Kent Police and whilst there is a full and thorough investigation underway our thoughts also remain with her family, friends and colleagues.’     

He added: ‘It is vitally important that anyone who was in the area on Monday and Tuesday who may have seen something suspicious gets in touch with us.

‘We’re particularly keen to speak to those who regularly visit the area who may have seen something out of place and those who drove by who have dash-cam footage.

‘We would advise anyone in the area to remain vigilant until the full circumstances of the death are established.’    

National Police Federation chair John Apter said: ‘Police have launched a murder investigation after ⁦@kent_police⁩ PCSO Julia James was found dead in remote Snowdown woods. 

‘My heart goes out to Julia’s family, friend and her colleagues. This is devastating news.’ 

It is understood Mrs James became a police community support officer in 2007, joining from a Kent County Council learning resource centre.

After becoming a PCSO for Tenterden in 2013, she told a local paper: ‘I am a people person and love being in the community. The people in Tenterden are very friendly.’

She has two children – a daughter who also works for the police and a 23-year-old son – as well as an infant grandson.  

Devastated locals say the community, comprised of roughly 54 houses and part of the civil parish of Aylesham, has been left ‘shocked’ and ‘reeling’ following her death. 

Leah Southwell, 18, said: ‘She was so happy. So bubbly, if you were having a bad day she’d be there smiling at you and trying to make you laugh.’

The teenager described how the area was ‘swarmed with police’ after the body was discovered.

She said: ‘Last night about 10pm, I looked out my window and there were sirens, blue lights all down my road.

‘At around 4pm-ish there were two vans, a little van and a squad car, and there was a fire engine as well.

‘Nothing ever happens around here. It’s just shocking to be honest.’   

Another neighbour said: ‘I can’t believe it. She was a loving mum and the pillar of the community. This is devastating. She was a lovely woman. A terrific part of the community.’

Paramedic Sean Simmonds, 57, who lives on the same street as Mrs James, said he only saw the mother-of-two walking her Jack Russell a few days ago.

He said: ‘I can’t believe it. She usually walks her dogs in the fields, a little Jack Russell. That hasn’t been seen either.

‘It’s a such a shame.’ 

Mary Bowden, 71, added Mrs James kept herself to herself but seemed nice.

She said: ‘She was a very quiet, nice lady, very inoffensive. I often used to see her walking her dogs.

‘Nothing happens around here usually. She was just a quiet, lovely lady.’