Katie Amess says ‘glimmer of hope’ inquiry will be reconsidered after PM meeting
The murdered MP’s daughter met with the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary on Wednesday.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess has said she still feels “betrayed” that her calls for an inquiry into his death were rejected, but said the Prime Minister offered a “glimmer of hope” that the Government would reconsider.
During their meeting in Downing Street on Wednesday, Katie Amess said Sir Keir Starmer had told them her father’s case was “different to Southport, but couldn’t tell me how”, labelling his words “disappointing”.
She told reporters the family were assured they could “come back and speak to him” if Government reviews did not provide the family with the answers they needed.
The Home Secretary previously wrote to Ms Amess and Sir David’s widow, Lady Julia Amess, to reject their calls for an inquiry, which the pair branded “totally unacceptable” and “insulting”.
In the letter, Yvette Cooper said it was “hard to see how an inquiry would be able to go beyond” terrorist killer Ali Harbi Ali’s trial and the recently published Prevent learning review.
Spokesman for the Amess family, Radd Seiger said the family and its legal team will be involved in the independent review into Prevent and if questions still remain, they will urge the Government to order a public inquiry.
Speaking following a meeting with both Sir Keir and Ms Cooper, Ms Amess said: “Obviously it’s disappointing because I was praying that the full public inquiry would be launched, and when I asked questions about why it can’t be launched, he wasn’t really able to answer them.
“He just said that my case was different to Southport, but couldn’t tell me how – so that’s very disappointing.
“But he said we can have a small glimmer of hope, and hopefully some of our questions can be answered.
“Those that aren’t answered, we can come back and speak to him about.”
Ms Amess added: “It just prolongs the heartache that we’re going through.
“Obviously the best possible scenario would have been a full public inquiry, but I guess we have to cling to that 1% hope that we can get the answers through a different means, and if we don’t get those answers, maybe then they’ll reconsider.”
Asked if she still felt betrayed by the Government’s stance on an inquiry, Ms Amess said: “I still feel the same, but he did say that we could come back if we don’t get the answers.
“So I still feel the same but maybe the slight glimmer of hope will come true.”
Ali had been referred to Prevent seven years before he killed Sir David on October 15 2021, but his case was closed in 2016.
The so-called Islamic State fanatic stabbed the veteran MP at his constituency surgery in Essex and was sentenced to a whole-life order in 2022.
After Ms Amess criticised the Home Secretary’s letter on Monday, Security minister Dan Jarvis said: “While we do not think a public inquiry would unearth any information that has not already been assessed, the Home Secretary has confirmed that we will further scrutinise all the reviews that have taken place over the last few years.
“We very much hope this will help the family to get the justice they deserve.”
