Funeral of murdered MP Sir David Amess to be held at Westminster Cathedral

26 October 2021, 21:18

The funeral of the murdered MP Sir David Amess will be held at Westminster Cathedral next month, it has been confirmed.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales, will preside over the service at 10.30am on Tuesday November 23.

The details were confirmed on Tuesday to MPs, peers and staff who attend Catholic services in Parliament.

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The Southend West MP was stabbed to death on Friday, October 15 while meeting constituents in a church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Last Monday, the Commons cleared its diary for MPs to offer tributes to their colleague, before a memorial service at St Margaret's Church in Westminster.

There was controversy at the time of Sir David's murder that a local priest, Father Jeffrey Woolnough, was not allowed into Belfairs Methodist Church, where the Catholic MP was dying, to administer the sacrament of the sick, which is also known as the last rites.

Ali Harbi Ali, 25, has been charged with Sir David's murder.

Iain Dale's emotional response to the death of Sir David Amess

He appeared in crown court for the first time on Friday by video-link from high-security Belmarsh prison, accused of stabbing the MP to death.

The Crown Prosecution Service alleges the murder has a terrorist connection because of its "religious and ideological" motives.

The possible terror link has led Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to call for new regulations to make social media companies "less attractive" to those who could potentially become radicalised via the platforms.

Mr Wallace told the Commons Defence Committee on Tuesday that the internet was "dangerous" when in the "wrong hands".

He made the comments after committee chairman Tobias Ellwood brought up the murder of Sir David by a suspect who, he said, it was "allegedly assumed could have been self-indoctrinated by what he read on the internet".