London: Former British politician Ann Widdecombe was hit 21 times in the head with a hammer as she ate lunch at home, a prosecutor told a court hearing on Tuesday for the man charged with her murder.
Joshua Kerry, 28, was brought to Westminster Court in London due to the murder that shocked the public and political institutions.
Widdecombe, 78, was having lunch on July 8 when Kerry was driving to his home in an isolated village in southwest England, prosecutor Kashif Malik said.
Kerry walked through the front door and hit him with a hammer, took his wallet and left two minutes after the attack began.
Blunt head injury 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 terrorism. Police are investigating his motives, including possible political or terrorist ties, prosecutors said.
Kerry, who wore a gray suit, spoke only to confirm his identity and did not enter a plea. He was ordered to be detained and is expected to appear in the High Criminal Court on October 9.
Widdecombe, a former MP and government minister, was a prominent political voice known for her outspoken, socially conservative views against abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.
When he failed to show up for a scheduled interview on July 8, television producers called his assistant, who contacted his gardener, prosecutors said. She found Widdecombe lying face down on her kitchen floor the next day.
Kerry was arrested on July 11 in South Yorkshire, the county in northern England where he lived, more than 400 kilometers from Widdecombe’s home in the village of Haytor, on the edge of Dartmoor National Park.
Widdecombe was an MP in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving as prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990 Conservative government.
He rose to fame after leaving Parliament as a candidate on reality television shows Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.
He later joined the Brexit Party, serving briefly as a member of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in 2020. More recently, he joined the anti-immigration Reform Party in the UK, often appearing in the media as the party’s spokesperson for immigration and rights.
Widdecombe’s murder has reignited concerns about the security of politicians, which had been heightened over the past decade after the murders of two prominent MPs. Labor MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in 2016 by a right-wing extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed in 2021 by an Islamic State-inspired attacker.
AP
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