Family, friends and colleagues are gathering to say goodbye to former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe. Her funeral service is taking place later at the Catholic abbey where she regularly worshipped.
Requiem mass at Buckfast Abbey
A requiem mass will be held for the former MP, who later became a Reform UK spokeswoman, at Buckfast Abbey in Devon. Miss Widdecombe, 78, was a frequent worshipper in the Abbey Church.
She 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, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was charged with her murder on July 20.
Tributes from the abbey
The private requiem mass will include a homily from the Rt Rev David Charlesworth, Abbot of Buckfast. 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”.
“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.”
Political career and public life
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. A public memorial for Miss Widdecombe will be held later this year.
