Updated ,first published
London: 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.
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 midday on July 8 when Kerry drove to her house in an isolated southwest England village, prosecutor Kashif Malik said.
The prosecutor said a CCTV camera inside Widdecombe’s home was installed in the hallway and facing into the kitchen. When the footage was recovered, it showed her sitting and eating lunch.
Malik told the court that the recovered footage showed Kerry entering Widdecombe’s home and asking: “Don’t suppose you have bank cards and ID?”
Kerry, who was wearing black gloves and holding a hammer to his side so it was hidden from Widdecombe’s view, then struck her 21 times, Malik said.
The prosecutor added that Kerry then tipped Widdecombe out of her chair and onto the floor before taking her wallet and leaving, having been in the property for approximately two minutes.
Blunt force injury to the head was listed as the provisional cause of death.
Kerry was charged on Monday (London time) 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 said.
Kerry, who wore a grey sweatsuit, spoke only to confirm his identity and did not enter a plea. He was ordered to be 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, television producers called her assistant, who contacted her gardener, prosecutors said. 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 where he lived, more than 400 kilometres from Widdecombe’s home in the village of Haytor, on the edge of Dartmoor National Park.
Widdecombe was a MP in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving as a prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government.
She found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the reality television shows Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.
She later joined the Brexit Party, briefly serving as a member of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in 2020. Most recently, she joined the anti-immigration Reform UK, often appearing in the media as the party’s immigration and justice spokesperson.
Widdecombe’s killing has renewed concerns over the security for politicians, which had been tightened in the past decade after 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.
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