Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on Ann Widdecombe's alleged killer being charged with acts of terror

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Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on Ann Widdecombe's alleged killer being charged with acts of terror · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

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  Speaker 1: Gavin Gray from the UK.
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  Speaker 2: Hi there, Andrew.
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  Speaker 1: Hello there. So the guy who was accused of murdering
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  Speaker 1: the former UK prisons minister and immigration spokesperson for Reform
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  Speaker 1: UK has now been charged with preparing.
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  Speaker 2: Acts of terror. Yes, quite a shock, really. And the
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  Speaker 2: 28-year-old will appear in court on Wednesday. His name is
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  Speaker 2: Joshua Kerry, and he was already charged with murdering Anne Widdicombe. Now,
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  Speaker 2: Anne Widdicombe, a former prison minister under the Conservatives and
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  Speaker 2: was the immigration spokesperson for Reform UK. and she was
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  Speaker 2: murdered at her home. It was alleged by Hammer and
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  Speaker 2: alleged by 28-year-old Joshua Kerry. Now he too has been
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  Speaker 2: charged with one count preparation of terrorist acts. What does
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  Speaker 2: that mean? Well, in between the lines, I think we're
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  Speaker 2: getting a feeling that he was also alleged to be
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  Speaker 2: trying to plot to attack Nigel Farage, the leader of
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  Speaker 2: Reform UK and the architect of Brexit. We don't know
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  Speaker 2: any more details. As I said, we'll get those when
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  Speaker 2: he appears in court on Wednesday. But it's interesting that
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  Speaker 2: Nigel Farage currently under investigating for accepting some 11 million
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand dollars worth as a gift before he became
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  Speaker 2: an MP. Now, he's under investigation because of claims that
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  Speaker 2: perhaps in some way he was given the money in
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  Speaker 2: order to do something or vote a particular way. when
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  Speaker 2: he became an MP. He said, no, that was a gift.
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  Speaker 2: And it was a gift to maintain my security. Now,
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  Speaker 2: others in his party are saying, look, he needed that
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  Speaker 2: money because his life is being threatened. And look at
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  Speaker 2: now what's being happening in this court and exactly the
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  Speaker 2: future of security for him and other MPs. So that's
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  Speaker 2: the argument.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. Now to justice, of course, in the UK, you're
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  Speaker 1: letting go a whole heap of prisoners because your prisons
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  Speaker 1: are too full and you can't afford it. But now
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  Speaker 1: we've got Andy Burnham scrapping the controversial plans to curb
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  Speaker 1: jury trials that Sir Keir Starmer's government came up with.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and that was something that Keir Starmer developed because
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  Speaker 2: during the pandemic, basically, the backlog of court cases absolutely
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  Speaker 2: rocketed up to 81,000 cases were waiting to be heard. And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, justice delayed is no justice at all. This
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  Speaker 2: government has tried to really reduce that waiting time down
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  Speaker 2: But it is going to be difficult. And one of
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  Speaker 2: the ways in which David Lambert, the former justice secretary, said, right,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to get this waiting list down, is to
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  Speaker 2: reduce the number of trials that would have been heard
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  Speaker 2: by a jury. Much quicker to hear it by a
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  Speaker 2: judge or a magistrate who can make a decision without
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  Speaker 2: having to consult with the others. But being judged by
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  Speaker 2: a jury is an 800-year-old right to trial here in
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  Speaker 2: the UK. And surprise, surprise, many barristers weren't that amused
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  Speaker 2: by those thoughts either. And that has now been scrapped.
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  Speaker 2: So another example of where the new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham,
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  Speaker 2: the same political party as his predecessor, Keir Starmer, is
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  Speaker 2: making radical changes to the thoughts that were going on
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  Speaker 2: earlier in government.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Gavin Gray.