British prosecutors have told a London court that Ann Widdecombe was struck 21 times on the head with a hammer during an attack at her home that lasted about two minutes. The former Conservative minister and Reform UK spokeswoman was 78.
Joshua Kerry, 28, from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 21 charged with her murder. He spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address, and entered no plea.
Prosecutor Kashif Malik said Kerry had driven from Rotherham to Widdecombe’s bungalow in Haytor, on Dartmoor in southwest England, in a red Vauxhall Corsa. He was alleged to have walked in through the front door while she was eating lunch in her kitchen.
Wearing black gloves, he struck her on the top of the head with a hammer and tipped her from her chair, the court heard. Her handbag was then searched and her wallet taken before he left the property and drove away.
A doorbell camera recorded the car arriving and a second camera inside the house captured the attack, prosecutors said. A provisional cause of death was given as blunt force injury to the head.
The court heard that Widdecombe had failed to join a scheduled online interview with Channel 5 shortly before 1pm on July 8. Production staff contacted her personal assistant, who asked the family gardener to check on her.
The gardener found her lying face down on the kitchen floor the following day. Kerry was arrested on July 11 on suspicion of murder and separately on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, though he has not been charged with any terrorism offence.
Counter Terrorism Policing South East has taken over the inquiry from Devon and Cornwall Police, and investigators reportedly recovered communist literature and other political material at the suspect’s home. Detectives are still examining whether the killing was ideologically motivated.
Kerry appeared at the Old Bailey later on July 21, where he was refused bail and remanded in custody. A case management hearing was set for October 9 and a provisional trial date for June 8, 2027.
An inquest opened in Exeter earlier the same day before Philip Spinney, senior coroner for Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, who adjourned proceedings until the criminal case concludes. Spinney said Widdecombe was “much loved and will be greatly missed”.
Widdecombe was Conservative MP for Maidstone and the Weald, and previously for Maidstone, from 1987 to 2010, and held ministerial office under John Major. She later served as a Brexit Party MEP for South West England before becoming Reform UK’s immigration and justice spokeswoman in 2023.
