David Vance SubstackRead More
We all have to die one day, and it is comforting to think that it will be a gentle going off into an eternal night. That is not what happened to 78 year old Ann Widdecombe. No, this poor soul was hit on the head with a hammer 21 times at her home as she ate lunch in an attack that was caught on camera, prosecutors have told Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The Prosecutor Kashif Malik said the man charged with her murder, Joshua Kerry, arrived at her house on 8th July in a red Vauxhall Corsa and entered through the front door. Presumably it was unlocked? Kerry, who prosecutors say was in the property for just two minutes and was wearing black gloves, then allegedly hit Widdecombe repeatedly with a hammer in her kitchen, tipped her from her chair and took her wallet before driving off.
My god. 21 times, in 2 minutes.
What sort of MONSTER would do such a thing? This was a frenzied killing. The 28-year-old from South Yorkshire later also appeared at the Old Bailey and was then remanded in custody. At the Old Bailey hearing, prosecutor Alistair Richardson said the attack on Widdecombe had been carried out with a “ferocity of violence”.
Malik told the court that Widdecombe did not attend a pre-arranged online interview with Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show that had been scheduled for just before 1pm on 8th July. So the suggestion is that she was killed sometime just before that. The show’s production team tried to contact Widdecombe through her personal assistant, who then asked Widdecombe’s gardener to check on her, the court heard. Prosecutors said that the gardener entered the house via the open front door on 9th July and found Widdecombe lying face down on her kitchen floor with a serious head injury.
Dead.
What sort of hatred would motivate someone to carry out such a savage act and where would it come from? Political figures like Widdecombe and Farage have been long demonised in the UK media by figures including former PM Starmer; they have been frequently and repeatedly characterised as “nazis”, “far right” and “fascists”. This is where the unfiltered discourse has REAL life consequences, because when such loose language is deployed there is always some nutter out there who will believe it.
And then act on it.
In this case, the Prosecution offers us a very disturbing story. A man jumps into his car, travels 270 miles without stopping, walks straight in through Ann Widdecombe’s front door, bludgeons her with a hammer 21 times in just two minutes, steals her wallet and leaves and return straight home. This is almost beyond belief.
Further, the act was carried out in broad daylight and is allegedly caught on CCTV. If this is true, this will help the Police ensure the guilty party is brought to book and that is the most important thing here. Justice for Ann is paramount.
What really worries me is that tragic as this it, it may not be the last. Nigel Farage has already explained that he gets a death threat or two EVERY day. How can he be sure one of them is not from someone intent on carrying it out? That’s WHY he needs 24/7 security, it’s a matter of life and death and yet the government chose to downgrade his security initially. It’s a scary thought that maybe the Deep State wants you dead and wants to make sure it happens. I think back to what happened Charlie Kirk last year and the pattern always seems to be the same.
Ann Widdecombe was an exceptional politician but did not present the same threat to the establishment that Nigel Farage and Reform constitute. I suspect if this had been a left wing political figure bludgeoned to death by a person holding extreme right wing views, we would know ALL about them by now. Instead, there is a cloak of silence over the possible political views of the suspect. There’s a strong suspicion that he is an extreme leftist but details are slow to emerge. Why is that?
In fairness, Police describe this as a ‘targeted attack” and are investigating possible motives, including ideological ones. However I feel the lack of immediate transparency fuels legitimate questions about consistency and fairness. Is something being hidden from us that we deserve to know? I want to be fair to the counter terrorism police but they have indicted that there is only ONE individual involved in this murder.
The sooner we hear ALL the details the better. Justice for Ann and transparency for all.
