Man charged with murder of British former politician Ann Widdecombe

UK prosecutors have charged a 28-year-old man with the murder of former politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe.

Joshua Kerry was charged on Monday (early Tuesday AEST) after being held for more than a week in custody on suspicion of murder and acts of terror. 

Police are continuing to investigate his motive, including a potential political or terrorist connection, prosecutors said.

The death of Widdecombe, 78, a former member of parliament, shocked the British political world, where Widdecombe was a prominent voice for decades. 

She was a blunt-speaking character known for socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.

Police said they believe Widdecombe was attacked on July 8. 

She failed to appear that afternoon for a scheduled TV interview and was found dead the next day in her isolated rural home in a south-west England village.

Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries” in what they called a targeted and brutal attack.

Read more

‘Un-Australian’: Backlash to Pauline Hanson ‘white privilege’ speech

“I want to make it very clear that our investigation into this individual, determining his motivations and any wider activity he may have been involved in is continuing,” said Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism policing.

“Given Ann Widdecombe’s profile and the targeted nature of the attack, determining the motivation, including any possible political motivation, remains an active avenue of investigation for our detectives.”

Taylor added that the investigation was intensive and complex, and detectives were working through more than 800 lines of inquiry.

Kerry was arrested on July 11 in South Yorkshire county in northern England, more than 320km from the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe was found dead.

Kerry remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday local time.

He was originally arrested on suspicion of murder, but after finding new evidence while he was custody, he was rearrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

Widdecombe was in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in former prime minister John Major’s Conservative government in the 1990s.

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 party, often appearing in the media as a spokesperson.

The killing has renewed concerns for politicians about security, which was tightened in the past decade after the murders of two serving members of Parliament.

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.