The daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess said her family are "still without answers" four years after the veteran politician was stabbed to death. Katie Amess continues to call for a public inquiry into the failures that allowed her father's killer to slip through counter-terror safeguards.
Father-of-five Sir David, 69, was hosting a surgery at a church in his Southend West constituency when he was attacked on October 15, 2021. His killer, Ali Harbi Ali, had been referred to the Government's counter-terror programme Prevent seven years earlier but was found guilty of murder after just 18 minutes of deliberation at the Old Bailey and was handed a whole-life prison term in 2022.
Prevent programme failures
Katie Amess, 40, said the killer had been "flagged as a risk" but there was "just one meeting with him, over a McDonald's coffee" where he convinced authorities he was not a terrorist. She described this as "a failure of the state to keep its citizens safe, their Government's first duty".
"As we mark four years since my father was so brutally taken from us, my family and I are still without answers as to how his killer was ever allowed to wreak such havoc when he was known to the Prevent and counter-terrorism authorities," she said. "That failure to act cost my father his life and it should be a given that where anyone is killed in these circumstances, let alone a dedicated public servant like my father, there should be a public inquiry."
Government response demanded
Ms Amess said the Prime Minister had asked the family to work with independent Prevent commissioner David Anderson KC's review. However, she said: "By his own admission, his report has failed to get to the bottom of things and answer the fundamental questions our family has been asking from day one."
She added that the Prime Minister had promised to meet the family himself if Lord Anderson could not provide answers. "That meeting must now take place, and the Government must order a full public inquiry into what happened and what must be done to ensure no family ever endures what we have," she said.
Home Office position
A Home Office spokesperson said Sir David's murder was "an awful tragedy" and acknowledged the family's continued search for answers. They said several reviews had already taken place, leading to "significant improvements to the Prevent programme as well as stronger protections for MPs".
"While we do not think a public inquiry would unearth any information that has not already been assessed, we have confirmed that we will further scrutinise all the reviews that have taken place over the last few years," the spokesperson said. "We very much hope this will help the family to get the answers they deserve."
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
