A London court heard shocking details Tuesday in the murder case surrounding the death of former British politician Ann Widdecombe, with prosecutors revealing she was struck 21 times in the head with a hammer inside her own home.
Joshua Kerry, 28, made his appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in connection with the killing, which has deeply unsettled both the public and the political community in Britain.
According to prosecutor Kashif Malik, Kerry drove to Widdecombe’s home in a remote village in southwest England while she was in the middle of eating lunch. He then attacked her repeatedly with the hammer before taking her wallet and leaving the scene. The provisional cause of death has been identified as blunt force injury to the head.
Kerry was taken into custody and formally charged Monday. He was initially arrested on suspicion of murder, but investigators later uncovered new evidence that led to an additional arrest on suspicion of committing, preparing, or instigating acts of terrorism. Authorities say they are still working to determine his motive, including whether it was politically or terroristically driven.
Widdecombe, who was 78 years old, had a long and prominent career in British politics. She served as a member of Parliament in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010 and held the role of prisons minister during Prime Minister John Major’s Conservative government in the 1990s. She was widely known for her outspoken socially conservative positions, including her opposition to abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.
Investigators believe the attack occurred on July 8, after Widdecombe failed to show up for a television interview scheduled for that afternoon. Her gardener discovered her body the following day, July 9. Kerry was arrested on July 11 in South Yorkshire, a county in northern England — more than 250 miles away from the village of Haytor, located on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe had lived.
After her time in Parliament, Widdecombe gained a new wave of public recognition by appearing on the reality TV programs “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother.” She later became a member of the Brexit Party and briefly served in the European Parliament before Britain exited the European Union in 2020. More recently, she had affiliated with the anti-immigration Reform UK party, frequently appearing in media as its spokesperson on immigration and justice issues.
The killing has reignited debate in Britain over the safety of politicians. Security measures for public officials had already been strengthened following the murders of two members of Parliament in the past decade — Labour MP Jo Cox, who was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative MP David Amess, who was stabbed in 2021 by an attacker motivated by the Islamic State group.
