Joshua Kerry, 28, charged in killing of ex-UK government minister Ann Widdecombe
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
British prosecutors charged a 28-year-old man with murder Monday in the death of former politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe.
Joshua Kerry was charged after more than a week in custody on suspicion of murder and acts of terror.
Police are continuing to investigate his motive, including a potential political or terrorist connection, prosecutors said.
The death of Widdecombe , 78, a former member of Parliament, shocked the British political world, where Widdecombe was a prominent voice for decades.
She was a blunt-speaking character known for socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights.
Police said they believe Widdecombe was attacked July 8.
She failed to appear that afternoon for a scheduled TV interview and was found dead the next day in her isolated rural home in a southwest England village.
Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries” in what they called a targeted and brutal attack.
“I want to make it very clear that our investigation into this individual, determining his motivations and any wider activity he may have been involved in is continuing,” said Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism policing.
“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,” he said.
Taylor added that the investigation is intensive and complex, and detectives were working through more than 800 lines of inquiry.
Kerry was arrested July 11 in South Yorkshire county in northern England, more than 200 miles from the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe was found dead Thursday.
Kerry remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
He was originally arrested on suspicion of murder, but after finding new evidence while he was custody, he was rearrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Widdecombe was in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government.
She found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the reality television shows “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Celebrity Big Brother.”
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The UK's initial response, which was so ham handed as to have made Pravda blush, was to immediately deny there was any political motive to the assassination , endlessly repeat it was a white male who did it, and then invent a "right wing terror threat" at a Muslim event.
Politicized policing at its finest.
Speaking out against left wing orthodoxy is becoming dangerous on both sides of the pond...
I notice that you never post about any of the transgender people being attacked 'across the pond'. One might get the impression that one is just a troll cherry picking news to push a very narrow dishonest and disjointed viewpoint that aligns with the far rightwing conservative troll ideology of hate towards lgtbq community and liberals.
How many transgender people were murdered for being transgendered in the UK? And of those, how many did the police lie about the motive?
Sounds a lot like Mayor Brandin Johnson freaking about "trans femicide" in Chicago when not one of the many hundreds of murder victims was killed for being a transwoman. Worrying about imaginary victims while ignoring actual ones is a characteristic many progressives share.
Oh, I forgot that rightwing conservatives are able to psychically tell what the motives were even in murders that went unsolved. /s
I feel sad for those who are such useless weak whiny scum that they have to attack people whether physically or verbally simply for being who they are. I can't even imagine living like such a tiny pathetic bigoted frog in a well with such a narrow hateful worldview.