Former Southend West MP, Anna Firth, has personally delivered a hand-signed letter to Home Secretary in Parliament, calling for the inquest into the death of Sir David Amess to be re-opened.

MsFirth, who has been supporting the Amess family’s pursuit of clarity for over a year, urged the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, to address concerns surrounding the handling of Sir David's murder investigation.

In her letter, Ms Firth emphasised the Amess family’s right to answers, particularly regarding the Prevent programme’s role in monitoring the terrorist responsible for Sir David's killing.

This comes after the daughter of Sir David, Katie Amess, said he was “catastrophically” failed by the Government’s Prevent programme, as she called for a full inquest into his death.

Katie Amess, 39, said she was told Ali, 28, had been reported to Prevent in 2014, but after one meeting his case was not followed up by the anti-radicalisation programme “due to an admin error”.

Ms Firth stated: “The Amess family need and deserve answers.

“In failing to follow-up, the terrorist who murdered Sir David Amess the Prevent programme not only failed the Amess family, it failed democracy. “The Prevent programme remains a Home Office programme paid for by the taxpayer and was roundly criticised by the William Shawcross review in February 2023.

“It is plainly in the public interest to know what changes the government have made to prevent such catastrophic ‘admin’ errors happening again. “It is only by a proper examination of the Prevent programme in the context of Sir David’s brutal murder, that we can ensure changes have been made to prevent such a tragedy ever happening again.”

The former Southend West MP, 69, was stabbed to death by Ali Harbi Ali at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh in Essex in October 2021.

Sir David, a father of five, had been holding a surgery in his Southend West constituency when he was attacked by Ali, who was sentenced in 2022 to a whole-life prison term for the murder.