Joshua Kerry has been charged with the murder of former British Member of Parliament Ann Widdecombe after he struck her 21 times with a hammer.
Joshua Kerry, a 28-year-old man from Rotherham, has been charged with the murder of former Member of Parliament Ann Widdecombe. The 78-year-old politician was killed at her home in Haytor Vale, Devon, on July 8. According to prosecutor Kashif Malik, Kerry entered the house and struck Widdecombe repeatedly on the head with a hammer while she was eating lunch. The attack lasted approximately two minutes, and the provisional cause of death was listed as a blunt force injury to the head. Kerry was arrested in South Yorkshire and subsequently remanded in custody after appearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. While police initially ruled out a terrorist connection, counter-terrorism police took over the investigation on July 13 to explore potential political or terrorist motives. Widdecombe was a prominent socially conservative figure who served as a prisons minister in the 1990s and later became a spokesperson for Reform UK. Her death highlights growing concerns regarding the security of British lawmakers following the recent assassinations of Jo Cox and David Amess.