Labour MP Stephen Timms has said he would welcome the opportunity to meet Roshonara Choudhry, the woman who stabbed him in a constituency surgery in 2010, as part of a restorative justice process. The East Ham MP revealed he had received three letters from Choudhry, who is serving a life sentence for attempted murder, with the third containing an apology for the attack.
In an interview with GB News, Timms said police had recently passed on the letters, which were written over a period of time. He described being in a restorative justice process that could lead to a face-to-face meeting before Choudhry's release. 'I'd welcome that if that opportunity does arise,' he said.
The stabbing occurred when Choudhry, who had been radicalised, approached Timms at a constituency surgery. The MP initially thought she was going to shake his hand. He later discovered serious injuries after lifting his shirt in the toilets, which doctors described as 'life-threatening but not imminently life-threatening'.
Timms noted that the attack strengthened his relationship with Muslim constituents, who offered support in the aftermath. He also spoke of the 'terrible loss' of fellow MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, who were murdered in 2016 and 2021 respectively.
Despite security risks, Timms emphasised the importance of MPs remaining accessible to their constituents. 'If we were to disappear behind some barriers, I think that would be a real loss to democracy in Britain,' he said. The interview follows his earlier comments in a Commons debate after Amess's death, where he expressed a desire to forgive his attacker.
