Murdered MP was failed by Home Office, says daughter

The daughter of David Amess, murdered by an Isis supporter at his MP surgery, says she and her family were “catastrophically” failed by the government’s Prevent programme.

- BARNEY DAVIS

Katie Amess reportedly launched a High Court civil case for personal injury against the Home Office and Essex Police earlier this year following her father’s murder in 2021.

Sir David, 69, was stabbed 21 times by Ali Harbi Ali, who pretended to be a constituent interested in local churches before launching an attack he had planned for seven years outside the constituency surgery held at a Methodist church in Leigh-onSea.

Ali, 28, had been referred to the Home Office’s deradicalisation scheme Prevent seven years earlier but boasted he was able to look compliant when dealing with the organisation. He was sentenced in 2022 to a whole-life prison term.

“We know the guy did it,” Sir David’s daughter Katie told The Sunday Times. “I just want to know how and why he was allowed to … What has been changed to ensure that this never happens again and that another family doesn’t have to go through the absolute heartbreak and trauma that has just shattered our world?”

“The police told us they didn’t follow up with him due to an admin error,” said Ms Amess, who wants a full inquest into her father’s death.

According to the coroner’s report, Ali’s six-month review of his Prevent case was “missed” and then his yearly review revealed “nothing of concern”.