Threatening calls to son ‘not linked’ to murder of Sir David Amess, say police

A series of threatening phone calls made to the adult son of Sir David Amess the evening before the MP’s murder were “not linked in any way” to the attack, police have said.

The veteran politician’s daughter, Katie Amess, has called for a full inquest into his death and said there are still unanswered questions.

She told Radio 4’s Today Programme: “The night before it happened to my dad, my brother received a phone call saying that my father was going to be killed.

“He reported it to the police instantly.

“Obviously you would presume given that there was a death threat to a Member of Parliament they would turn up the next day to protect him.

“The guy that killed my father admitted that he had gone to another surgery or other people’s houses to kill them and when he saw a police presence he obviously didn’t go through with the attack.

“Had the police have been there, we might not be sitting here today without my father.”

Essex Police said in a statement that the force was contacted at around 9pm on October 14 2021 “following reports of threats made to a man in his 30s”.

“We immediately launched an investigation and a woman in her 20s and a man in his 30s, both from Southend, were arrested,” Essex Police said.

“This incident and the murder of Sir David were not linked in any way, and the people arrested and the person the threat was made directly to were known to each other and none were connected to Ali Harbi Ali.”

Sir David, 69, was stabbed to death by Ali Harbi Ali at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex on October 15 2021.

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

Katie Amess told Today that “subsequently the police say they arrested people who made the phone call and it was not related but that’s just irrelevant to us because they should have gone still”.

“Just one threat should be enough for you to go and protect somebody,” she said.

“If they were there my dad probably wouldn’t be dead and I think we need to have a full investigation into why they didn’t show up.”

The senior coroner for Essex Lincoln Brookes addressed the issue of the threats made to Sir David’s son in his 18-page decision not to resume an inquest into Sir David’s death.

He said that Sir David’s adult son, also called David Amess, had called Essex Police and “said that he had received a series of threatening telephone calls”.

The coroner said that documents provided to him by police “appear to show that the threats raised by Mr Amess the evening before Sir David’s death were taken seriously and were acted upon by the police”.

He said that the investigation into the calls continued after the killing and it was “established that this was a wholly unconnected event”.

Mr Brookes said that the calls “were not threats to Sir David’s life” and the circumstances described do not demonstrate “any arguable breach of either a systemic or an operational duty in respect of a murder in unrelated circumstances by an unrelated person”.

He wrote: “The evidence I have received does not enable me to say that there was arguably a point in time when the authorities should have appreciated a real and immediate risk of the perpetrator committing an attack on Sir David, or any MP, and taken potentially effective action to prevent it.”

An Essex Police spokesperson said: “Sir David Amess was a thoroughly committed public servant who worked tirelessly for his community.

“In the immediate aftermath of his murder, two of our heroic unarmed officers ran into the face of danger, trying desperately to save him and of course detaining his killer.

“Several other of our officers attended shortly afterwards and worked with paramedic colleagues to help save Sir David, sadly they were unable to do this.

“In the days and months after that day, our team worked around the clock to reassure the community and support colleagues from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terror Command to do all we could to help them secure justice.

“We are aware that what is in effect a protective claim form has been filed at court, however as these papers have not been served on our force, we are unable to comment any further upon them.”

The spokesperson added: “We remain committed to supporting our elected members across the county in the execution of their public duty and to this end we regularly review and advise around security arrangements for our Members of Parliament.

“Sir David and the Amess family remain in our thoughts.

“We were contacted around 9pm on Thursday 14 October following reports of threats made to a man in his 30s.

“We immediately launched an investigation and a woman in her 20s and a man in his 30s, both from Southend, were arrested.

“This incident and the murder of Sir David were not linked in any way, and the people arrested and the person the threat was made directly to were known to each other and none were connected to Ali Harbi Ali.

“We take the safety and security of all our residents, including elected members, extremely seriously.

“As with all forces up and down the country, Essex Police does not provide officers to police MP constituency surgeries.”

They said: “If information or intelligence comes to light to give us cause for concern of the safety of an MP we would of course advise and guide them to keep them safe and provide a policing presence where necessary.

“In the wake of Sir David’s murder, the National Police Chiefs’ Council asked all Chief Constables to contact MPs to discuss their security.

“Our Chief Constable BJ Harrington did this at the time and has regular dialogue with our MPs as do our local policing commanders.

“More broadly Essex Police is part of a nationwide police protection security programme designed to offer MPs access to extra security in their homes and constituency offices, the programme was established in 2016 in the wake of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.”

Asked if Sir Keir Starmer backed calls for a full inquest into Sir David’s death, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said it was a matter for the coroner.

The spokesman said: “Obviously, Sir David Amess’s death was senseless and tragic and our thoughts continue to be with his family and friends and the Government continues to take the safety of Members of Parliament extremely seriously.

“Significant work has been taken forward since Sir David’s tragic killing.

“Any decisions on the inquest are for a coroner to decide but we are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure our Prevent programme works effectively to protect us from terrorism.”