Suspect charged in fatal attack on UK politician Ann Widdecombe

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing UK prosecutors, AP and Reuters, reported that Joshua Kerry, 28, has been charged with murdering Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative minister who later became associated with the Brexit Party and Reform UK. The Crown Prosecution Service said Kerry, from Rotherham in northern England, was charged on Monday and was expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Tuesday.

Widdecombe, 78, was found dead on July 9 at her home near Dartmoor National Park in southwest England, after she failed to attend a television interview the previous day. Police have said she appeared to have been intentionally targeted, but they have not released the method of killing, referring only to serious injuries.

According to the report, Kerry was arrested on July 11 on suspicion of murder. Police later made an additional arrest while he was in custody in connection with terror-related allegations after further evidence was found. Laurence Taylor, the head of National Counterterrorism Policing, said investigators were still working to establish a motive and were examining whether Widdecombe’s public profile or politics played a role.

Widdecombe served as a Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010 and was known for socially conservative and right-wing positions. She later won a European Parliament seat for the Brexit Party and moved into Nigel Farage’s Reform UK after Brexit. Al Jazeera framed the case against the backdrop of concern about violence against UK politicians, including the killings of MPs Jo Cox in 2016 and David Amess in 2021.