Public Memorial Will Be Held to Honor Murdered Pro-Life MP Ann Widdecombe

A public memorial will be held later this year for Ann Widdecombe, the longtime British lawmaker and steadfast defender of the unborn who was murdered in a brutal attack at her Devon home.

Widdecombe, 78, a former Conservative minister and Reform UK spokeswoman, was found dead July 9 at her bungalow in Haytor on Dartmoor with serious head injuries.

Prosecutors told a court that she was struck 21 times on the head with a hammer while eating lunch on July 8 in an attack captured on security cameras. Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham, has been charged with her murder and remanded in custody.

A provisional trial date is set for June 8, 2027.

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Counter-terrorism police continue to investigate any possible political motivation.

In a statement, her family said a private service for family and close friends will be held in the coming weeks, with invitations already distributed.

“We understand that there is significant public interest in the funeral of Ann Widdecombe,” the family said. “A more public memorial will follow later in the year, the details of which will be released in due course. While we are very grateful for the wide expression of condolences, the family would ask that this initial service is limited to those closest to Ann.”

Buckfast Abbey, the Benedictine monastery near her home where Widdecombe regularly attended Sunday Solemn Mass and Holy Week services, is working closely with the family on funeral arrangements. The monastic community said it continues to hold Widdecombe, her family and loved ones in its prayers and will provide further information “in due course, when appropriate,” while asking that the family’s privacy be honored.

Earlier, the abbey described her as “a woman of profound faith, a faith which found expression in the public forum of politics” who “was unafraid to express her unwavering convictions, formed through her Roman Catholic faith.”

Widdecombe converted to Catholicism in 1993 and emerged as one of Britain’s most consistent champions of the sanctity of human life.

A longtime patron of Right to Life UK and a senior figure in the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, she fought for greater legal protections for unborn babies and against efforts to legalize assisted suicide.

As early as 1990 she argued in Parliament that abortion should not be treated as a legitimate medical procedure and that existing protections for the unborn should not be eroded. She supported amendments in 2008 to lower the abortion limit under key provisions of the Abortion Act to 12 weeks.

She also opposed assisted suicide bills in 1997, 2000 and 2004 and continued speaking against measures that threaten the vulnerable at the beginning and end of life long after leaving the Commons.

Pro-life organizations have described her as a “heroine of the pro-life cause” whose strong and consistent voting record and public witness set an example for politicians willing to defend the right to life. The public memorial is expected to allow supporters to honor her lifelong defense of the weakest members of society.