Court hears Ann Widdecombe was killed in a hammer attack
Joshua Kerry has appeared at Westminster Magistrate's court charged with her murder
Last updated 5 hours ago
A man has appeared in court charged with murdering Ann Widdecombe, with the prosecution alleging she was struck 21 times with a hammer.
28-year-old Joshua Kerry, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this afternoon over the death of the former MP
Kerry was arrested two days after Ann Widdecombe's death at her bungalow in Haytor on Dartmoor, Devon and was formally charged with murder yesterday.
Ann Widdecombe found by her gardener after not appearing for interview
Kashif Malik, prosecuting, said that on July 8, Miss Widdecombe did not attend a pre-arranged online interview at just before 1pm, which would have been aired live on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show.
The show’s production team tried to contact Miss Widdecombe through her personal assistant, who then asked the family gardener to check on her, the court heard.
Prosecutors said he found the politician lying face down on her kitchen floor with a serious head injury the next day, July 9.
Prosecutors give details of Ann Widdecombe's death
Mr Malik said that on July 8, Miss Widdecombe had been eating lunch when Kerry allegedly pulled up outside the front of her house in a red Vauxhall Corsa and entered through the front door.
Kerry then allegedly used a hammer to hit Miss Widdecombe on the top of her head 21 times, the court heard.
He is accused of tipping her from her chair and taking a wallet out of her handbag before leaving and driving off, having only been in the house for two minutes, the court heard.
A provisional cause of death was given as a blunt force injury to the head, the court heard.
A bearded Kerry, who appeared in the dock wearing a grey tracksuit, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and Byrley Road address.
He was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey later on Tuesday.
'Targeted attack'
Whilst the motive for the killing is not yet known, Head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor in a statement yesterday said “Given Ann Widdecombe’s profile and the targeted nature of the attack, determining the motivation, including any possible political motivation, remains an active avenue of investigation for our detectives.
“As with all murder investigations, understanding the ‘why’ is a key part of our enquiries. This has been, and remains, a particularly intensive and complex investigation.
“Over the last week, our teams have gathered a huge amount of information, leading to over 800 lines of enquiry. Each of those needs assessing, carefully and thoroughly, and I ask that we are given the time to do that”.