Joshua Kerry, 28, from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with the murder of former Conservative Party minister Ann Widdecombe. He was not asked to enter a plea.

Prosecutor Kashif Malik told the court that a camera inside Widdecombe’s home had captured the attack, in which she was repeatedly struck with a hammer. Widdecombe, 78, was found at her home in Haytor, Devon, on July 9, a day after the attack took place. She had been due to appear in a live television interview on July 8 but did not show up. Her personal assistant then asked her gardener to check on her, and he found her at the property.

Kerry was arrested on suspicion of murder at his home in Rotherham on July 11 by Devon and Cornwall Police, after being linked to a red Vauxhall Corsa seen outside Widdecombe’s bungalow shortly before her death. The case was subsequently taken over by counter-terrorism officers, and Kerry was rearrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Police said the investigation into whether the attack had a political or terrorist motive is continuing.

Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring remanded Kerry in custody and ordered him to appear at the Old Bailey later on Tuesday afternoon.

Separately, an inquest into Widdecombe’s death opened in Exeter earlier the same day. The court heard that emergency services had been called and she was declared dead at the scene. A postmortem examination has taken place, but the precise medical cause of death has yet to be established.

Widdecombe served as Conservative MP for Maidstone, in Kent, for 23 years and was a minister in Sir John Major’s government in the 1990s. After leaving the House of Commons, she appeared on the BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing” in 2010 and finished as runner-up on “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2018. She later became a Brexit Party MEP for South West England and, from 2023, served as an immigration and justice spokeswoman for Reform UK.