An independent review into state failings that occurred prior to the murder of MP Sir David Amess has been pledged by the Home Secretary. This commitment followed a meeting on Wednesday between Shabana Mahmood and the veteran MP’s daughter, Katie Amess, at the Home Office.
Ms Amess, who has consistently called for a public inquiry to achieve "real accountability", was assured the government would work "at pace" to carry out the review.
After the meeting, she said: “They are saying we will be involved in the terms of reference and getting some of the answers we want.
“I’m willing to work with them, and to go down this road with them, but if in another year’s time I still don’t have any answers then I’m going to come back again and then again and again – I’m not just going to give up because they don’t think I deserve the answers.
“My father was a Member of Parliament for 40 years – we don’t know why the Government and the Prevent scheme let his perpetrator go – we don’t know why they decided he (Sir David’s killer) wasn’t worth having other meetings with, and why he was deemed a ‘great guy’ and then let go to kill a Member of Parliament.
“Until I get those answers, I’m not going to stop.”
Former home secretary Yvette Cooper previously wrote to Sir David’s family to reject their calls for an inquiry, which his widow Lady Amess and Katie branded “totally unacceptable” and “insulting”.
Sir David was stabbed to death at his constituency surgery in Essex in 2021 by so-called Islamic State fanatic Ali Harbi Ali, who was sentenced to a whole-life order for the murder the following year.
Ali had been referred to anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent seven years before he killed the veteran MP but his case was closed in 2016.
It is understood the Home Office has yet to find anyone to take on the review but approaches have been made.
Ms Amess’s adviser Radd Seiger said the review was a “step forward” from the rejection of the public inquiry and they would work collaboratively with the Government moving forward.
He said they were told the review was being worked on “at pace”.
Last year, Independent Prevent Commissioner David Anderson KC conducted a review into Prevent which said Ali’s case under the scheme was deemed to have closed too early after “problematic” assessments.
Expressing concerns about the upcoming review, Ms Amess said: “In the last review we did, the coroner said he’s not talking to them and cited his judicial power that he didn’t have to speak to them.
“Secret meetings took place between the coroner and MI5 – there’s no notes for those meetings. For some reason the records weren’t kept.
“People that Lord Anderson tried to question said ‘oh I don’t remember what happened’ – so every single place Lord Anderson tried to get answers, he was shut down.
“In a review you’re not compelled by a judge to answer these questions so I can’t see what other answers they are going to have for me – but I have to go down this road and hopefully it’s not wasting more of my time.”
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