Colchester: Adam Butt to be sentenced for killing US national Mary Wells

Mary Wells, 21, was found with stab wounds to her neck and body at a property in Laing Road, Greenstead, in January last year.

Adam Butt, 22, of Laing Road, Colchester, was arrested after the discovery.

He denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility in August.

The Crown Prosecution Service later accepted the plea.

The scene of the stabbing in Laing Road, Greenstead, Colchester, in January 2021

At a short hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court today, Butt was not produced as defence counsel requested more time for psychiatric evidence to be served.

Tom Price QC for Butt said: “My estimate is the sentencing hearing will probably take around two hours.”

Judge Christopher Morgan said: “If all goes to plan, we may be in a position to sentence this matter in June from the week commencing the 13th.”

An inquest at Chelmsford Coroner’s Court previously heard Ms Wells had come to the UK to see a man she had met online.

Read more: Man admits killing 'kind and shy' American woman who was visiting UK

Assistant coroner Tina Harrington established a provisional cause of death as penetrating wounds to the neck and torso.

A fundraising page was set up to help her grieving family with the process of transporting her body home.

On the page, Mary was described as a person who “would give someone the shirt off her back”.

It said: “Mary was quiet and didn’t ask for much.

She wasn’t the kind of person who likes to fight or argue. She was very shy.”

It added: “Mary had a tough couple of years.

“She lost her mum due to health problems and lost her grandmother, who took care of her after her mum died two years ago.”

Mary was due to return to America after a six-month visit to England.

The page set a target of raising £3,300 and reached the goal in just two days.