Former UK politician Ann Widdecombe killed in hammer attack
Former British politician Ann Widdecombe was struck 21 times on the head with a hammer as she was eating lunch at home, a prosecutor told a court hearing on Tuesday for the man charged in her murder, reports BritPanorama.
Joshua Kerry, 28, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London over the killing that shocked the public and the political establishment. Widdecombe, 78, was eating around noon on July 8 when Kerry drove to her house in an isolated southwest England village, prosecutor Kashif Malik said. After entering, he beat her with a hammer, took her wallet, and left two minutes later.
Blunt force injury to the head was listed as the provisional cause of death. Kerry was charged Monday while in custody after being arrested on suspicion of murder and acts of terror. Police are investigating his motive, including a potential political or terrorist connection, prosecutors indicated.
Kerry, clad in a gray sweatsuit, spoke only to confirm his identity and did not enter a plea. He was ordered held in custody and is scheduled to appear in the Central Criminal Court on October 9.
Widdecombe, a former member of Parliament and government minister, was a prominent political voice known for her blunt-spoken, socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ rights. When she failed to appear for a scheduled interview on July 8, TV producers contacted her assistant, who in turn reached out to her gardener. He found Widdecombe lying face down on her kitchen floor the next day.
Kerry was arrested on July 11 in South Yorkshire, a northern England county over 250 miles from Widdecombe’s home in the village of Haytor, situated on the edge of Dartmoor National Park.
Widdecombe served as an MP in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, during which she held the role of prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s Conservative government in the 1990s. She gained fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on reality television shows “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother.”
Later, she joined the Brexit Party, serving briefly as a member of the European Parliament before the UK left the European Union in 2020. Most recently, she aligned with the anti-immigration Reform UK, frequently appearing in the media as the party’s immigration and justice spokesperson.
Widdecombe’s killing has renewed concerns over security for politicians, already tightened in the past decade following the murders of two prominent MPs. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.
