Ann
Widdecombe was hit on head repeatedly with hammer, court told
Joshua
Kerry appears at Westminster magistrates court charged with murder of former MP
earlier this month
Geraldine
McKelvie and Jamie Grierson
Tue 21
Jul 2026 16.39 BST
A man has
appeared in court charged with the murder of the former MP and Reform UK
spokesperson Ann Widdecombe.
Joshua
Kerry, 28, is accused of killing the 78-year-old former Conservative minister
at her home in Haytor, Devon, earlier this month, by hitting her on the head
with a hammer 21 times.
During a
brief hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday afternoon, Kerry, who
was dressed in a grey sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms, spoke only to confirm
his name, date of birth and address.
The court
heard that security camera footage from the property indicated Widdecombe had
been fatally attacked on 8 July.
Kerry is
alleged to have entered her bungalow through the front door while she was
eating her lunch, after driving there from his home in Rotherham, South
Yorkshire.
The
prosecutor, Kashif Malik, claimed Kerry was in the house for about two minutes
before driving off, having allegedly taken Widdecombe’s wallet from her
handbag.
Malik
said the alarm was raised after Widdecombe failed to attend a pre-arranged
online interview for Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show, shortly before 1pm.
Producers from the show are said to have tried to contact Widdecombe and her
personal assistant several times.
She was
found lying face down on her kitchen floor by her gardener on the morning of 9
July and declared dead by emergency services shortly afterwards. Malik said a
provisional cause of death was given by a pathologist as blunt force trauma to
the head.
Kerry was
arrested on suspicion of murder on 11 July by officers from Devon and Cornwall
police after he was linked to a red Vauxhall Corsa car seen outside
Widdecombe’s bungalow shortly before her death.
The case
was later taken over by counter-terrorism officers and Kerry was rearrested on
suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
The investigation into whether there was an alleged political or terrorism
motivation for Widdecombe’s death is continuing.
Later on
Tuesday, Kerry appeared at the Old Bailey before Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb,
where he was denied bail and remanded in custody. A case management hearing was
scheduled for 9 October, with a provisional trial date set for 8 June 2027.
On
Tuesday morning, an inquest opened in Exeter into Widdecombe’s death. Philip
Spinney, the senior coroner for the county of Devon, Plymouth and Torbay,
confirmed the time and date of the former MP’s death and read a short statement
before suspending the inquest until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings.
He said:
“The circumstances of the death are as follows: concerns were raised that Miss
Widdecombe was uncontactable. So, an employee who was due at the home address
was asked to conduct a welfare check. Miss Widdecombe was located within her
property. She was found to be unresponsive, and with visible injuries.
“The
emergency services were called, and she was sadly declared deceased at the
scene. A postmortem examination has taken place, and at this stage the precise
medical cause of death has yet to be established.”
Spinney
paid tribute to Widdecombe, who was the Conservative MP for the seat of
Maidstone and the Weald, previously Maidstone, between 1987 and 2010. In 2019,
she defected to the Brexit party to serve as an MEP; latterly, she was an
immigration and justice spokesperson for its successor party, Reform UK.
“It is
plain that Miss Widdecombe was much loved and will be greatly missed, and it’s
important that we all understand the impact the loss of life has had on those
who mourn,” Spinney said.
“A court
could appear a harsh and clinical setting for what is an intensely private
matter, the death of a loved one. I would like to offer my deepest condolences
to the family of Miss Widdecombe.”
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