Ann Widdecombe's funeral service will take place on Wednesday at Buckfast Abbey in Devon, where she regularly worshipped. A requiem mass will be held for the former Conservative minister, who later became a Reform UK spokeswoman.
Service Details
The private requiem mass will include a homily from the Rt Rev David Charlesworth, Abbot of Buckfast. Miss Widdecombe was a frequent worshipper in the Abbey Church.
A statement from the abbey said Miss Widdecombe would be “missed and fondly remembered” and “many in our worshipping community knew her as a kind and warm character”.
Tribute from the Abbey
“Ann was a woman of profound faith, a faith which found expression in the public forum of politics,” the statement said. “Ann was unafraid to express her unwavering convictions, formed through her Roman Catholic faith. She had a sharp intellect and was a dedicated public servant.”
A public memorial for Miss Widdecombe will be held later this year.
Career and Death
The former MP, 78, died on July 8 after she was hit over the head with a hammer 21 times at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor, Devon. Joshua Kerry, 28, was charged with her murder on July 20.
Miss Widdecombe was first elected as a Conservative MP in Kent in 1987, was a prisons minister in the 1990s and later became an MEP for the Brexit Party. At the time of her death she was a spokeswoman on immigration and justice for Reform UK. She also found fame outside politics on Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.
