A suspect has been apprehended and charged with the murder of former Conservative Party member of Parliament (MP) and Reform Party member of the European Parliament (MEP) Ann Widdecombe. According to Westminster Magistrates’ Court, 28-year-old Joshua Kerry of South Yorkshire entered Widdecombe’s Devon home on July 8th as the 78-year-old politician ate lunch. British investigators claim that Kerry, wearing black gloves but not a facemask, entered through the front door, found his target in the kitchen, and then struck Widdecombe 21 times with a hammer. Kerry then purloined Widdecombe’s wallet before leaving the scene in his red Vauxhall Corsa.
Kerry drove over four hours and over 200 miles from his home near Rotherham, the most infamous city in Britain’s grooming gang scandal, to the crime scene in the small village of Haytor. Now, after first denying that Widdecombe’s murder was linked to political terrorism, British police are probing the murder and Kerry for any ties to far-left ideology. Prosecutor Alistair Richardson stated Kerry carried out his attack with a “ferocity of violence” indicative of hatred or ill-feeling. Another prosecutor, Kashif Malik, claimed that the murder lasted only two minutes, after which Kerry was seen on CCTV leaving the house.
So far, public knowledge about the suspect is limited. Law enforcement officers in Devon and Cornwall initially arrested Kerry on suspicion of the murder on July 11th after seeing him behind the wheel of the red Vauxhall Corsa. Kerry was then re-arrested sometime later by counter-terrorism officers on suspicion of the “commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”
At the time of the murder, Kerry lived with his dog in a housing estate around Kimberworth Park. Described by relatives and neighbors as friendly and quiet, Kerry reportedly became a shut-in who rarely left his house following the death of his father last December. Kerry’s last employment was with an elevator company, but it is believed that Kerry has been unemployed for some time. The London court denied Kerry’s release during his first hearing on July 21st, and he is not scheduled to be back in court until October.
The revelation of a possible connection to left-wing terrorism in this case has caused several commentators to note the alleged killer’s use of a hammer. Violent hammer attacks are part of far-left imagery and tactics, with groups such as Germany’s Antifa Ost (also known as the Hammerbande) frequently using hammers during their “direct action” attacks. Closer to home in Great Britain, several members of Palestine Action were recently convicted of assault after breaking into an Israeli-based defense company’s building in Bristol in August 2024 and striking several workers and security guards with sledgehammers. Conservative journalist Andy Ngo further states that the use of a hammer in the killing of Anne Widdecombe could denote a connection to trans ideology, as hammer symbolism features prominently in online communities and trans organizations with connections to the far-left.
The murder of Ann Widdecombe has received relatively light coverage in the U.S. However, some American readers and pundits have noted the similarities to the assassination of Charlie Kirk last September. In both instances, killers allegedly motivated by far-left politics used extreme violence to kill a prominent right-wing figure. Also, just as in the murder of Kirk, members of the far-left have been caught celebrating the news of Widdecombe’s death. Heather Herbert, an employee of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, is currently under investigation by the university for posting online that Widdecombe’s murder was “good news” and that she hoped that the former MP experienced an “extremely painful death.”
