A 28-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative minister and Reform UK spokeswoman who was found dead at her home in Devon nearly a fortnight ago. The Crown Prosecution Service authorised the charge, and the accused, Joshua Kerry from Rotherham in South Yorkshire, is due to appear before magistrates. The development marks the first formal charge in a case that has drawn intense attention because of the prominence of the woman at its centre.
Widdecombe, who was 78, was one of the most recognisable figures in modern British politics. She was first elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament in 1987 and went on to serve as a minister in the governments of John Major. In later life she remained active well beyond the Conservatives, standing as a Brexit Party Member of the European Parliament and, more recently, serving as a spokeswoman for Reform UK, the party led by Nigel Farage. She was also a familiar face beyond politics, with a significant media profile that included an appearance on Strictly Come Dancing and years as a panellist on television and radio.
Her body was discovered at her home in Devon, in the rural area around Hatherleigh, nearly two weeks ago. The death of a figure so widely known across several strands of British politics sent an immediate shock through Westminster and beyond, and prompted a police investigation that has since moved quickly towards the courts.
According to the account of the case set out by prosecutors and police, Kerry was first arrested on suspicion of murder on 11 July, in the days after Widdecombe was found dead. Two days later, he was further arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, specifically the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. He has not, however, been charged with any terrorism offence, and the sole charge he now faces is one of murder.
Kerry is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where the proceedings are expected to be short. At a first hearing of this kind, a defendant is typically asked only to confirm his name and age. Given the gravity of a murder charge, the matter will not be dealt with in full by the magistrates, who are expected to refer the case to the Crown Court, where any trial would eventually take place.
Investigators have indicated that their inquiries into the circumstances of the killing are continuing, including questions about the motive. Among the lines of investigation is whether there was any political or terrorist connection, a possibility reflected in the earlier arrest on suspicion of terrorism offences even though that suspicion has not, at this stage, resulted in a charge. Counter-terrorism officers, who remain involved in the case, said they were working through more than eight hundred lines of inquiry, each of which would have to be examined and assessed.
The killing has also reopened a wider and painful conversation in Britain about the safety of members of Parliament and other public figures. Counter-terrorism police have been in contact with parliamentary officials over the security procedures in place to protect MPs, a subject that has returned to the fore each time a prominent political figure has been attacked in recent years. Tributes to Widdecombe, meanwhile, have continued to be paid across the political spectrum, reflecting a career that touched several parties over nearly four decades.
The case has resonated in part because of Widdecombe's long and unusually varied public career, which carried her across the Conservative Party, the Brexit Party and Reform UK, and made her a familiar presence to the public far beyond conventional politics. Colleagues and opponents alike had come to regard her as a distinctive voice in British public life over nearly four decades.
As with any criminal case, the charge against Kerry is an allegation, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until proven guilty in court. The immediate focus now falls on the magistrates' hearing and the expected referral to the Crown Court, with the police investigation into how and why Widdecombe died continuing in parallel.