Ann Widdecombe was hit on head repeatedly with hammer, court told

A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of the former MP and Reform UK spokesperson Ann Widdecombe.Joshua Kerry, 28, is accused of killing the 78-year-old former Conservative minister at her home in Haytor, Devon, earlier this month, by hitting her on the head with a hammer 21 times.During a brief hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Tuesday afternoon, Kerry, who was dressed in a grey sweatshirt and tracksuit bottoms, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address.Widdecombe was found dead in her kitchen on the morning of 9 July. The prosecutor Khasif Malik told the court that a provisional cause of death was given by a pathologist as blunt force trauma to the head.Malik said the alarm had been raised after she failed to attend a pre-arranged online interview for Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show the previous day.Her body was found by her gardener and she was declared dead by emergency service shortly after, the court heard.Kerry was arrested on suspicion of murder at his home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on 11 July, by officers from Devon-and-cornwall-police" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="9597" data-entity-type="organization">Devon and Cornwall Police after he was linked to a red Vauxhall Corsa car seen outside Widdecombe’s bungalow shortly before her death.The case was later taken over by counter-terrorism officers and Kerry was rearrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. The investigation into whether there was an alleged political or terrorism motivation for Widdecombe’s death is continuing.The chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, told Kerry he would be remanded in custody, to appear at the Old Bailey later on Tuesday afternoon.Earlier on Tuesday an inquest opened in Exeter into Widdecombe’s death. Philip Spinney, the senior coroner for the county of Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, confirmed the time and date of Widdecombe’s death and read a short statement before suspending the inquest until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings.He said: “The circumstances of the death are as follows: concerns were raised that Miss Widdecombe was uncontactable.“So, an employee who was due at the home address was asked to conduct a welfare check. Miss Widdecombe was located within her property. She was found to be unresponsive, and with visible injuries.“The emergency services were called, and she was sadly declared deceased at the scene. A postmortem examination has taken place, and at this stage the precise medical cause of death has yet to be established.”Spinney also paid tribute to Widdecombe, who was the Conservative MP for Maidstone between 1987 and 2010.In 2019, she defected to the Brexit party to serve as an MEP. Latterly, she was an immigration and justice spokesperson for its successor party, Reform.“It is plain that Miss Widdecombe was much loved and will be greatly missed, and it’s important that we all understand the impact the loss of life has had on those who mourn,” Spinney said.“A court could appear a harsh and clinical setting for what is an intensely private matter, the death of a loved one. I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the family of Miss Widdecombe.”