Prosecutors have told the Old Bailey that the murder of Ann Widdecombe had a “terrorist connection” because it was “politically and ideologically motivated”.
The man accused of killing her, Joshua Kerry, 28, held a “particular hostility to Reform”, they alleged on Friday, describing him as having “an extreme left wing and/or anti-establishment mindset”.
Kerry was charged in July with the murder of the 78-year-old, a former Conservative minister and Reform spokeswoman. Last week he was charged with a second offence of preparing terrorist acts.
The prosecution accuses him of carrying out “online reconnaissance” of prominent people and institutions, and of travelling to Nigel Farage’s home in South London on 19 April 2025 and attempting to break in — 15 months before Widdecombe was killed.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb granted the prosecution’s request to join the two charges into a single case.
Kerry appeared at the court by video link from Belmarsh prison, wearing a prison-issue grey sweatshirt.
The judge fixed a five-week trial to begin on 8 June next year. Nicholas Lumley KC, defending, told the court that Kerry was likely to contest all of the charges against him.
Widdecombe was found dead at her home in Haytor, Devon, on 9 July, having sustained serious injuries. During a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in July, prosecutors said she had been struck on the head with a hammer 21 times as she ate lunch.
She sat as the Conservative MP for Maidstone and the Weald in Kent for 23 years and took on ministerial roles in Sir John Major’s government during the 1990s.
After leaving the Commons, Widdecombe appeared on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2010 and finished as a runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother eight years later.
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