this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2026
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37
Man, 28, charged with murder of Ann Widdecombe (www.bbc.co.uk)
submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by floofloof@lemmy.ca to c/unitedkingdom@feddit.uk
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[–] echodot@feddit.uk 13 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Taylor said it remained the case that investigators were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

He added that counter terrorism teams have gathered "a huge amount of information" over the last week, leading to more than 800 lines of enquiry.

Yeah that doesn't add up.

This man travels a significant distance to kill a no longer politically active non-high ranking politician. The police openly admit they don't have a motive and yet they feel confident enough to arrest him on charges of terrorism. But also despite the fact that they don't know the why they do know they're not looking for anyone else?

I suspect what's happened is that this idiot was on a watch list, he managed to give them the slip and went and killed her, for reasons that probably only makes sense to him, and now they're trying to cover up their screw up, so now he's a terrorist. He's probably just bonkers, People tend to focus their delusions on important figures like politicians, I knew someone who was utterly convinced that Tony Blair was hiding information in his speeches specifically for him.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 days ago

Yes, if they really thought he were a terrorist they would be looking for his accomplices in order to prevent the next attack. But the word "terrorist" is thrown around by UK authorities as a matter of convenience these days.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 3 points 3 days ago

She wasn't quite retired, she was the spokesperson on justice and immigration for Reform.

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Or the British security services have finally learned from the Americans how to groom mentally ill people, give them a weapon or a bomb and point them towards someone or someplace. Oven-ready terrorist.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

And they pointed him at an irrelevant retired politician?

[–] tenebrisnox@feddit.uk 1 points 3 days ago

I'm in "pure paranoid conspiracy mode" here and wearing a tin foil hat... but there's something of a synchronicity about Farage trying to use his personal safety as a justification for the £millions he's been gifted. The media's interest in that has certainly diminished since Widdecomb's death. But, like I say, I'm in zany nut case mode and in a rational world of decent men and women stuff like this never happens.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

She was still a high-ranking official of the Reform Party, and had been publicly executing that role hours before her murder.

[–] FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Its possible they found a piece of paper saying "palastine action" in his flat

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 2 points 4 days ago

Couldn't stop at murder, he had to be progressive too.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 1 points 4 days ago

They've since clarified that he appears to have supported Jeremy Corbyn and identified as a communist. It's quite terrifying.

[–] FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Intrigued that theyve charged him with terrorism, but still dont say anything about the motive.

[–] Red5@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 4 days ago

After the Palestine Action crackdowns, anything can be terrorism

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (3 children)

So this guy traveled down from Rotherham to Devon to murder an old lady and they have no motive? No manifesto written in blood?

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You might wanna not skip over this bit

former Conservative minister and Reform UK spokeswoman

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

She’s still nowhere near the top of the hitlist if you were going after Tory chodes.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 7 points 5 days ago

Yeah, it's pretty weird. If there's not a personal vendetta involved you're left with, what? An old lady being the only person he thought he could actually kill?

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 2 points 4 days ago (3 children)

If it was just a random person who drove a distance to commit the crime, it's honestly pretty impressive that they caught him. I wonder what they had to go on.

[–] ChairmanMeow@programming.dev 2 points 3 days ago

Apparently his DNA on the murder weapon, plus camera footage.

[–] ohulancutash@feddit.uk 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

His car was seen parked outside the house —> ANPR —> ID

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 2 points 4 days ago

Probably fingerprints and/or DNA. You don't go from being a perfectly law abiding citizen to a murderer in one go, this guy will definitely have been in the system.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 4 days ago

Oh they're definitely withholding stuff, initially I wondered if it was because they were worried that the likes of Tommy 10 names were going to try and turn it into a riot opportunity, but since this guy is as white as you can get I'm not really sure what the point of withholding information is.

They had better release something soon or this is going to get the conspiracy theorists all riled up. I'm actually sort of amazed reform have been so quiet on this.

[–] Heliumfart@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 days ago (2 children)

That guy looks older then 28, damn.

[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 3 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Fr. That man is 47 and you will not convince me otherwise.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 2 points 5 days ago

Pub life, not even once

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -1 points 4 days ago

Brits tend to follow the late 70s male aesthetic.

[–] hanrahan@slrpnk.net 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

looks like the guy who runs the kiwifarms web site.

[–] Diddlydee@feddit.uk 3 points 4 days ago

Looks like the hairy biker that died.

[–] Eyekaytee@aussie.zone 3 points 5 days ago

which one of you guys is it

[–] Babalugats@feddit.uk -1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

I "qwanted" the name to see if anything turned up, was pretty confident that his footprint would have been wiped, but somebody on twatter/eggs has put up some of it.

EDIT - Using links instead of just the the bullet points.. No grok no more.

Joshua Kerry (28, Rotherham) described by neighbours as quiet/shy; former lift company worker, lived alone post-father's death.

Main trace: Signed a 2025 open letter for Jeremy Corbyn/Zarah Sultana's "Your Party" (listed ~1505th, Rotherham, no occupation).

Communist/Russian material reportedly found on devices/home. Counter-terror police cite targeted attack + planning; re-arrested under Terrorism Act.

Farage states (on "good authority") Kerry was hard-left activist who attended marches, expressed hatred of him multiple times, obsessed with Soviet communism. No specific public posts/quotes from Kerry widely reported yet. No confirmed organised group membership beyond the letter signature.

Investigation ongoing; presumption of innocence. Details may emerge.

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

You're posting grok output as if it somehow contributes to the conversation?

[–] Babalugats@feddit.uk 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

No, initially I didn't realise it was grok output until after I posted, so I posted how and where the info came from.

But the way it's worded, I'm sure is very easy to look up and clarify.

At the end of the day, ai is just a glorified search engine, often built with a bias purpose in mind, but in that instance, it's just a search result bullet pointed.

[–] eleijeep@piefed.social 0 points 4 days ago

If it's using factual sources to generate its answer then you should find those sources and quote those instead. The fact that it will just make stuff up that sounds plausible means that you have to do the legwork to verify every single word it outputs. If you are verifying it then presumably you're finding sources that you can link.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Well I assumed he was going to be unhinged. Obviously you shouldn't go around murdering people, even people you don't like, but if you are going to go around murdering people you don't like, you should probably start with a more worthy target than Widdecombe who let's be honest, has never been exactly politically relevant.