Ann Widdecombe to be honoured with private service ahead of public memorial

A public memorial for Ann Widdecombe will be held later this year following a private funeral in the coming weeks, her family said.

The service will be reserved for "family and close friends" with invitations already being distributed.

Details for the public memorial will be released at a later date, they added.

The Reform UK spokeswoman and former Conservative minister was found dead in her home in Haytor in Dartmoor, Devon, on 9 July with serious head injuries.

Joshua Kerry, 28, from South Yorkshire, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with her murder.

Ms Widdecombe's family said: "We understand that there is significant public interest in the funeral of Ann Widdecombe.

"A private service for family and close friends will be held in the coming weeks, and invitations for this ceremony have been distributed.

"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."

Prosecutors said Ms Widdecombe had been eating lunch when Kerry pulled up in a car outside her home and entered through the front door.

Read more from Sky News:
PC's killers may be released early
Manhunt for escaped prisoner

Kerry is alleged to have hit the 78-year-old on the head with a hammer 21 times, the Old Bailey heard on Tuesday.

Ms Widdecombe's provisional cause of death has been given as "blunt force injury to the head", prosecutors told the court.

Detectives are still investigating any possible political motives for the killing, but have not yet brought any terrorism charges.

Ms Widdecombe was first elected as a Conservative MP in Kent in 1987 and went on to be prisons minister in the 1990s.

She later became a Member of the European Parliament for the Brexit Party.

At the time of her death, she was a spokeswoman on immigration and justice for Reform UK.

(c) Sky News 2026: Ann Widdecombe to be honoured with private service ahead of public memorial