Government offers Amess family glimmer of hope

The daughter of MP Sir David Amess said she still felt "betrayed" there would be no inquiry into his death, but that the prime minister had offered a "glimmer of hope" the government would reconsider.

Katie Amess visited Downing Street where Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper discussed plans for a review into Prevent, the government programme aimed at stopping people becoming terrorists.

The 39-year-old said it was "very disappointing" to not have an inquiry but hoped the review could lead to some answers.

Sir David, the Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed to death by Ali Harbi Ali, a fanatic of so-called Islamic State, at a constituency surgery on 15 October 2021.

Ms Amess visited Downing Street with Sir Davids successor, former MP Anna Firth.

Sir Davids family had called on the prime minister to consider including his murder in the public inquiry into the Southport killings, but this was rejected.

Ali had been referred to Prevent seven years before he fatally stabbed Sir David 20 times at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

The family argued the service could have done more to stop the killing.

Ali was sentenced to a whole-life order at the Old Bailey in 2022, having been found guilty of murder and preparing acts of terrorism.

In a letter to the family, the home secretary said it was "hard to see how an inquiry would be able to go beyond" Alis trial and the recently published Prevent learning review.

Speaking outside Downing Street, Ms Amess said the prime minister could not answer as to why an inquiry could not be launched.

She said: "He just said my case was different from Southport but couldnt tell me how.

"It just prolongs the heartbreak were going through. Obviously the best-case scenario would have been a full public inquiry.

"I guess we have to cling to that 1% hope that we can get the answers through a different means and if we dont get those answers, maybe then theyll reconsider."

Earlier this week, Ms Amess said the home secretarys decision not to launch a public inquiry into his murder felt like a "betrayal".

After the meeting with Cooper and Sir Keir, she told reporters the prime minster said she could return if the review did not provide the answers she was looking for.

"I still feel the same but maybe the slight glimmer of hope will come true," she added.

The family said they would participate in the reviews alongside their legal team.