Sir David Amess death: Family visit Leigh-on-Sea church to read tributeson October 18, 2021 at 12:20 pm

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Sir David’s widow Julia reads some of the many floral tributes left in memory of the Conservative MP.

The family of Sir David Amess have visited the church where he was killed to see some of the many tributes left in his memory.

Sir David’s widow, Julia, was comforted by family members as she spent about 10 minutes reading messages at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

The family have said their hearts are shattered – but called for people to “set aside hatred” and show love.

Later, MPs will pay tribute to Sir David in Parliament.

There will be prayers and a minute’s silence at 14:30 BST, after which Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead MPs in reading out tributes in the House of Commons.

A service will then be held at St Margaret’s Church, next to Parliament, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury will give an address.

Sir David, 69, the Conservative MP for Southend West, had been meeting constituents when he was stabbed multiple times on Friday. A 25-year-old British man is being held under the Terrorism Act.

The father-of-five’s death has sparked an outpouring of grief, not only within his local community in Essex where he had been an MP for nearly 40 years, but from across the country.

At the weekend, his family released a statement saying the wonderful tributes had given them strength, but they are still trying to understand “why this awful thing has occurred… nobody should die in that way”.

“We are absolutely broken, but we will survive and carry on for the sake of a wonderful and inspiring man,” they said.

Julia Amess (left) the widow of Conservative MP Sir David Amess, stands with friends and family members to view flowers and tributes left for her late husband at Belfairs Methodist Church in Eastwood Road North, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, where he died after being stabbed several times during a constituency surgery on Friday.

Image source, PA Media

The Amess family visit Belfairs Methodist Church

Image source, Richard Knights/BBC

A person takes a photograph of "Why", a mural of Sir David Amess by local Artist Madmanity, at a skate park in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. The Conservative MP Sir David Amess died after he was stabbed several times at a constituency surgery on Friday.

Image source, PA Media

Earlier, the widower of Jo Cox – the MP who was murdered by a right-wing extremist five years ago – said hearing the news about Sir David took him immediately back to the moment he learnt of his wife’s death.

“Being back in that moment was very hard,” Brendan Cox said.

“And then just a wave of emotion, of sadness, of sorrow for what his family would be going through having gone through something very similar, knowing those first moments where you hear about the attack but hope that it will be OK through to those moments when you get told and then you have to tell other people.”

Ahead of the formal tributes planned in Parliament later, MPs have been discussing their own personal safety concerns.

Many MPs have spoken of a toxic and increasingly polarised political culture where online trolling has become widespread, including personal insults and direct threats of violence.

Labour’s Tulip Sadiq told BBC Breakfast that all MPs, especially women, are subject to attack and that her mother feared for her doing the job.

She said being an MP had had a “constant effect” on her family for years, especially her parents.

Tulip Saddiq MP

Image source, Getty Images

Sir David’s neighbouring MP in Southend, Conservative James Duddridge, said: “No-one that loves me, none of my friends would want me to be a Member of Parliament.

“The only reason they support it is because they know that that’s what I believe is an honourable thing to do, a worthwhile thing to do, something I’d always wanted to do, something that I have enjoyed. “

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said he had received “three threats to life and limb” over the past two years – but he does not want to “allow those who attack our democracy” to win.

And Labour’s Chris Bryant said a man had been arrested over a death threat he received over the weekend.

Asked whether MPs’ surgeries with constituents should take place online, Downing Street said the murder “cannot get in the way of democracy”.

“MPs may rightly be concerned about security, they’ve been contacted by police to discuss their activities and events so their arrangements can be reviewed,” the No 10 spokesman said.

“But while individual arrangements should rightly remain a matter for individual MPs and police, the prime minister shares the concerns with a number of MPs and ministers that this attack cannot get in the way of democracy.”

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