Hit 21 Times With a Hammer: Terrifying Details of Ann Widdecombe's Murder

Former Conservative minister and Reform UK spokeswoman Ann Widdecombe was allegedly struck 21 times with a hammer during a targeted attack at her home, prosecutors revealed at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, 21 July 2026.

Joshua Kerry, a 28-year-old man from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, stood in the dock accused of murdering the 78-year-old politician.

The grim discovery occurred on 9 July at her remote bungalow in Haytor, Devon, after Widdecombe missed a scheduled live television broadcast. As counter-terrorism police continue investigating potential motivations, court proceedings have laid bare the terrifying final minutes of a prominent public life.

Terrifying Details of Ann Widdecombe's Killing Heard in Court

Prosecutor Kashif Malik set out the sequence of events in the small, wood-panelled courtroom at Westminster. Kerry from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, stood in the dock charged with murder.

Malik told the court that on 8 July, Widdecombe had been eating lunch at home when Kerry allegedly drove up outside in a red Vauxhall Corsa and entered through the front door. There was no mention of a forced entry. According to the prosecution, he then walked into the kitchen where Widdecombe was sitting.

Kerry is accused of using a hammer to strike the 76-year-old on the top of her head 21 times. A provisional cause of death was given as 'blunt force injury to the head,' the court heard.

Prosecutors said she was then tipped from her chair onto the floor and her handbag searched, with a wallet allegedly taken before the intruder left.

Malik told magistrates the entire episode, from Kerry entering the house to leaving again and driving off, was believed to have lasted around two minutes.

No detailed description of any struggle was given in court. On the Crown's telling, this was not a long, chaotic fight, but something far more compressed and clinical.

Missed TV Interview Led to Gardener Finding Widdecombe

It can be recalled that Widdecombe was due to appear live on Channel 5 just before 1pm on 8 July, in an interview for presenter Matt Allwright's show. Malik said the production team tried to reach her when she did not join the pre-arranged online segment.

When calls and messages went unanswered, the team contacted her personal assistant, who then became concerned enough to ask the gardener to check on her at home, the court was told. According to prosecutors, he went to the property the following day, on 9 July.

The gardener found the front door open and went inside. In the kitchen, he discovered Widdecombe lying face down on the floor with a serious head injury. Even in the clipped language of courtroom evidence, the image is stark. By that point, there was nothing he could do other than raise the alarm.

The court heard that emergency services were subsequently called to the address, although precise timings and the medical response were not set out in detail during the short hearing.

'Emotionless' in the Dock as Hit 21 Times With a Hammer Allegation Read Out

Monday's appearance at Westminster Magistrates' Court was largely procedural, the formal step that moves the case up to a crown court where it can actually be tried.

Kerry, described in court only by his name, age and address in Rotherham, stood in the glass-fronted dock wearing standard custody clothing.

He spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address. Observers said he appeared emotionless as Malik recounted the allegation that Widdecombe had been hit on the head with a hammer 21 times.

Defendants often look numb at this stage, but when the charge is murder and the victim is a high-profile politician, that blankness can feel disconcerting.

Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring addressed Kerry directly, telling him, 'You're charged with an offence of murder which can only be dealt with in a crown court.' He added, 'You are therefore remanded into custody and sent to crown court.'

Kerry was remanded to appear at the Old Bailey on Monday afternoon. There was no application for bail and no public discussion of any potential defence.

Questions about motive, mental health or any prior connection between Kerry and Widdecombe did not surface at this stage, which leaves a lot of empty space around a very brutal allegation.

A Public Life Cut Short, and a Case Built on Minutes

Widdecombe was not a retired figure quietly out of public life. She served as a Conservative MP and minister in the 1990s, then reinvented herself as a forthright commentator and, more recently, as a Reform UK spokeswoman.

She remained a regular media presence, which is exactly why her failure to appear for a live interview looked so odd so quickly.

The alleged killing, sketched out in court in spare, almost forensic terms, is the kind of stuff that hits a public nerve, an elderly woman, a hammer, a series of blows to the head in her own kitchen, and a theft that, on the surface at least, looks petty.

Prosecutors say the entire incident lasted around two minutes. That is shorter than an ad break, yet enough time, on their account, to end a life and vanish back into the traffic.

Metropolitan Police have not, in this hearing at least, set out a wider evidential picture. There was no detailed reference to forensic work, CCTV, phone records or witness statements. Those are the elements that usually decide murder trials, and they are likely to emerge later at the Old Bailey rather than in a magistrates' court.

For now, the public version of events rests almost entirely on the prosecution's narrative. What happened inside that house on 8 July, why Widdecombe was allegedly targeted, and whether there is more to the story than a two-minute attack and a stolen wallet, are all questions that will be fought over in a crown court, not answered in a short procedural hearing.