It's perfect, I felt I could touch him

Widow weeps over MP's statue

- SASKIA ROWLANDS

THE grieving widow of murdered MP Sir David Amess wept as she came face-to-face with a lifesized statue of her late husband.

Lady Amess, 69, saw the figure for the first time this week and said: "I felt I could reach out and touch him. It's perfect... I honestly felt he was there in front of me."

She visited sculptor Andrew Lilley's studio days before the second anniversary of Sir David's murder.

The Southend MP, 69, was stabbed to death during a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

Lady Amess' approval meant the world to Andrew, who has been working on the statue for six months.