More details released about Ann Widdecombe funeral - with 'kind and warm' ex-MP to be commemorated at church where she worshipped regularly

Want LBC stories before everyone else? Set us as your Preferred Source on Google

A private requiem mass will be held for the former Tory MP and Reform UK spokeswoman at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.

The date of the service has not yet been made public.

Miss Widdecombe, a devout Roman Catholic, was a frequent worshipper in the Abbey Church, located in the town of Buckfastleigh.

The private requiem mass will include a homily from the Rt Rev David Charlesworth, Abbot of Buckfast.

The 78-year-old died on July 8 after she was hit over the head with a hammer 21 times while eating lunch at her home in Dartmoor.

Joshua Kerry, 28, was charged with her murder on July 20.

He has not yet entered a plea.

The private requiem mass will include a homily from the Rt Rev David Charlesworth, Abbot of Buckfast.

A public memorial for Miss Widdecombe will be held later this year.

A statement from the abbey said Miss Widdecombe would be “missed and fondly remembered” and “many in our worshipping community knew her as a kind and warm character”.

“Ann was a woman of profound faith, a faith which found expression in the public forum of politics,” the statement said.

It added that she "was unafraid to express her unwavering convictions, formed through her Roman Catholic faith. She had a sharp intellect and was a dedicated public servant.”

Today, counter-terror police investigating her death reopened a year-old probe into an alleged firebomb attack at Nigel Farage’s home in south London.

Miss Widdecombe was first elected as a Conservative MP in Kent in 1987, was a prisons minister in the 1990s and later became an MEP for the Brexit Party.

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

She also found fame outside politics on Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.