'Horrified' daughter of murdered MP suing police for failing to stop terrorist
The daughter of MP Sir David Amess is suing the police and Home Office for failing to stop his terrorist murderer.
Katie Amess has called for lessons to be learned after Ali Harbi Ali brutally stabbed Sir David, 69, in October 2021. Ali, 28, had been referred to the Home Office’s deradicalisation scheme Prevent seven years earlier but fooled officials into believing he was not a danger.
The Islamic State fanatic stabbed dad-of-five Sir David 21 times at a constituency surgery held at a methodist church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Katie, 38, an actress and model, has lodged a High Court civil case for “personal injury” against the Home Office and Essex Police.
Daniel Machover, head of civil litigation at Hickman & Rose, said: “Like so many others, Katie Amess was horrified both by the fact of her father’s murder, and the circumstances surrounding it. She has issued a claim at court as part of her desire to ensure proper accountability and learning from Sir David’s murder.”
Mirror splash on the brutal stabbing of Sir David in October 2021Details of the claim have not been made public as no papers have been lodged with the court. Tory Sir David was the second MP in five years to be murdered. Labour’s Jo Cox, 41, was killed by a far-right extremist in 2016.
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Ali, who got a whole life term, boasted at his 2022 Old Bailey trial he was able to look compliant when dealing with Prevent. An independent review of the scheme last year found it was failing. Ali, from Kentish Town in North London, spent years planning an attack and earlier had plans to target MPs including Cabinet Minister Michael Gove.
Ali emailed Sir David’s office, saying he was moving to the area and asked to meet him. When he arrived for his appointment, he told Sir David he wanted to discuss foreign affairs. He then pulled out a knife, said “sorry”, and stabbed him. A couple arriving at the surgery heard cries from the MP’s aides as Ali waved the bloodied weapon, shouting: “I killed him.”
Terrorist Ali Harbi Ali (PA)After he killed Sir David, two plain-clothes officers received a bravery award for detaining him. Ali became radicalised in 2014 and was referred to the Channel scheme for serious radicalisation cases. His case closed in 2015. An inquest for the MP has not been held after a coroner ruled there were “insufficient reasons” to have one following Ali’s trial.
The Home Office said it would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal cases. But it added: “The Government takes the safety of Members of Parliament extremely seriously, and significant work has been taken forward in response to the tragic killing of Sir David.”
Essex Police told the Mirror: “We are aware that what is in effect a protective claim form has been filed at court, however, as these papers have not been served on our force, we are unable to comment any further upon them. We remain committed to supporting our elected members across the county in the execution of their public duty and to this end we regularly review and advise around security arrangements for our Members of Parliament. Sir David and the Amess family remain in our thoughts.”
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