Daughter of murdered MP says ‘doors slammed in her face’ over calls for inquiry

The daughter of murdered Conservative MP Sir David Amess has said a review released shows the ‘utter stupidity’ from authorities that led to her father’s death.

Sir David was killed by an Isis sympathiser in October 2021 while he met with members of the public in his Southend West constituency.

The killer, Ali Harbi Ali, was known to the anti-terror government programme Prevent – but was not stopped in time.

In a review published this afternoon by the Home Office, it found Ali was exited from the Prevent counter-terrorism programme ‘too quickly’ and he was referred to the Prevent programme for two years.

Security minister Dan Jarvis told MPs: ‘The reviewer found that from the material reviewed, the assessment in terms of the perpetrator’s vulnerabilities was problematic, and this ultimately led to questionable decision making and sub-optimal handling of the case during the time he was engaged with Prevent and Channel.

‘It identified that the vulnerability assessment framework was not followed with the perpetrator’s symptoms being prioritised over addressing the underlying causes of his vulnerabilities.

‘The reviewer ultimately found that while Prevent policy and guidance at the time was mostly followed, the case was exited from Prevent too quickly.’

He added that a number of issues raised would ‘most likely not be repeated today’, including issues with record keeping and ‘blurred responsibilities’ between police and the local authorities.

Katie Amess has argued that a full public inquiry needs to take place into her father’s murder to fully understand and learn from the failures of the case.

However, she described being ‘completely stonewalled’ by officials in an interview with Good Morning Britain earlier today.

She said: ‘I’ve knocked on every door, I’ve tried to take it through the legal system, I’ve tried to take it through the Conservative government, now the Labour government.

‘Every door is being slammed in my face.’

Katie suggested the killings in Southport last July by a teenager who was also known to Prevent may never have happened if an inquiry had taken place earlier.

She told the ITV show: ‘It’s the same profile of person who did it to my dad, that did it in Southport. It’s a lone terrorist in their bedroom, self-radicalising.

‘Had the inquiry been launched in 2021, we wouldn’t be in the same situation today.’

Katie, who saw an earlier draft of the report in March last year, said it makes clear the ‘utter stupidity by the authorities and non-accountability’ that preceded Sir David’s killing.

But she also said the review ‘doesn’t mean anything’, describing it as ‘just a piece of paper’ that cannot provide the answers a public inquiry would.

Prevent was thrust into the spotlight when the history of Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was revealed following his guilty plea.

The murderer was referred to the programme for assessment three times between 2019 and 2021, but was deemed unsuitable for intervention each time.

Anna Firth, who was Sir David’s successor as Southend West MP, has written a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arguing the publication of the Prevent Learning Review today, ‘whilst welcome, is not sufficient’.

She said the public inquiry into the Southport murders should be expanded to encompass other incidents where Prevent had interactions with people who went on to kill.

They included the Reading murders by Khairi Saadallah in 2020 and the London Bridge killings by Usman Khan as well as Sir David’s death, she wrote.

Firth added: ‘Each grieving family has an equal right to answers and to an inquiry.’

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