A Killing, a Break-In, and a Question: Are They Connected?
Police are investigating whether a man charged with killing former politician Ann Widdecombe may also have been involved in an incident at Nigel Farage's London home last year. The man, Joshua Kerry, is 28 and from Rotherham. He has been charged with murder The Guardian.
The investigation into Widdecombe's death is being led by a specialist unit called Counter Terrorism Policing London (CTP). While looking into the murder, they found a clue in an older case that had not been followed up. That older case was an attempted burglary at Farage's London home in April 2025. Because they may have missed something the first time around, CTP had to refer itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), an independent body that checks whether police did their jobs properly The Guardian.
The April 2025 incident was first handled by the Metropolitan Police, with support from CTP. No one was arrested, and the case was closed. Police called it an attempted burglary, but other sources have described it as an attempted arson or firebombing The Guardian. The Guardian reported on 7 August 2026 that the case was being reopened, with a watchdog examining how police handled it the year before The Guardian.
Detectives are now going back over evidence from the April 2025 incident. They are checking fingerprints, CCTV footage, and video from devices like doorbell cameras. They also looked at the scene to see if an accelerant was used. An accelerant is a substance, such as lighter fluid, that makes a fire spread faster The Guardian.
Widdecombe, who was 78, was killed at her home in Haytor Vale, Devon. Paramedics found her body with serious injuries at 11:40 am on Thursday 9 July 2026. Police think she was attacked the day before. At Kerry's first court appearance in July, the court heard that Widdecombe died after being hit on the head with a hammer 21 times. Prosecutors said Kerry attacked her while she was eating lunch and then stole her wallet The Guardian; BBC.
The attack has not been called a terrorist incident. CTP is leading the case because there may be a political reason behind the killing The Guardian.
Kerry was first arrested on suspicion of murder on 11 July 2026, and then arrested again on 13 July 2026 on suspicion of another offence BBC. He is being held in custody while awaiting trial Counter Terrorism Policing. Devon and Cornwall Police said Kerry lives on Byrley Road in Rotherham, South Yorkshire Devon and Cornwall Police.
On Monday, Nigel Farage held a press conference. He said it was "a great tragedy that it took the death of Ann for the security services in Britain to finally take seriously the safety and security of Reform politicians and Reform prominent figures." He also said that CTP referring itself to the IOPC showed they were "not trying to cover up or ignore issues." Farage said he had met with Laurence Taylor, the head of CTP, and felt "great confidence" in him. Farage has also said separately that the incident at his London home last year was "directly linked" to Widdecombe's murder The Guardian; BBC.
The investigation now connects two incidents that happened more than a year apart and in different parts of the country. The IOPC referral focuses on a key question: if police had followed the missed line of enquiry in April 2025, could that have changed the path that led to Widdecombe's killing? It is standard practice for a police force to refer itself for review when it thinks it may have made a mistake. But the situation is more serious here because of the political profiles of both Widdecombe and Farage.
The broader context here is about how police decide when a crime is just a crime, and when it might be terrorism. CTP got involved in the Widdecombe case because there could be a political motive. But the Farage incident was treated as a burglary or arson, which does not fit neatly with the idea of a single politically driven campaign. The forensic evidence being reexamined will be crucial in figuring out whether a real link exists between the two.
There is also a political layer to all of this. Farage has publicly tied the two incidents together and criticized how seriously security services take the safety of Reform politicians. That puts pressure on both CTP and the IOPC to act quickly and openly. Because the Widdecombe killing has not been officially called a terrorist incident, there is still room for debate about what the motive was. The ongoing investigation will need to settle that question.
