Family of murdered Essex MP to meet Prime Minister after public inquiry rejected
"You cannot announce an inquiry into Southport and not one into Sir David" says family advisor, Radd Seiger
The family of the murdered Essex MP - Sir David Ames - will meet the Prime Minister and Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, later today to discuss their calls for a statutory judge-led public inquiry into his death.
Yvette Cooper rejected the calls last week, in a letter addressed to Sir David's widow and daughter.
She wrote: it's "hard to see" how an inquiry would "go beyond" what has been reviewed in the trial of killer Ali Harbi Ali, the Prevent Learning Review, the Coroner’s report, and Essex Police’s forthcoming conclusions.
In response, Lady Amess and her family wrote:
" As the Home Secretary readily acknowledged in her letter of last week, what is proposed in that letter was not the answer Lady Amess and her family were looking for. But Lady Amess and her family are also grateful that the Home Secretary remains keen to discuss matters. And that is because they are concerned that they currently have no answers as to how it was that Ali Harbi Ali (AA) slipped through the net to murder Sir David and they have no way of finding out how it was that he was free to do so.
The family's advisor, Radd Seiger see-ger - who reached out to the family on Twitter volunteering to help them - told Greatest Hits Radio:
"It's shocking to me that a family like Sir David's have basically been abandoned. If a family like this, who are well-connected politically, can't get support, what hope do the rest of us have?"
Daughter, Katie Amess, and widow, Lady Julia Amess, will meet the Prime Minister and Home Secretary in Downing Street on 12 May to ask them to reconsider their decision to reject the public inquiry.
Mr Seiger added that Sir David's case is "identical" to that of the Southport attacks and "you cannot announce an inquiry into Southport without announcing an inquiry into Sir David.
"There is no logic to do one and not the other" he added.
Keir Starmer ordered a public inquiry into the Southport atrocity - which saw three girls murdered at a Taylor Swift dance class - on 20th January 2025.
The announcement came after Axel Rudakubana, 18, dramatically pleaded guilty to the attack and followed revelations that he had previously been referred to Prevent, the government’s anti-radicalisation scheme.
Sir David Amess' killer, Ali Harbi Ali, had also been referred to the Prevent programme:
"He was clearly identified as somebody self-radicalising. He was then called into the Prevent Programme, taken to one meeting at McDonalds where they bought him a cup of coffee.
"At that meeting he denied being a terrorist and at that point, was released.
"Why were those decisions made? Who took them? And on what evidence?" says Mr Reiger.
"These are all questions a public inquiry would answer" he adds.
Katie Amess spoke to the press on 10 May 2025, giving a heartfelt account about the government's decision to reject the public inquiry into her father's death.
"If he was here now and this had happened to one of his colleagues, he'd have been the first person fighting for them.
"If everything had all been fixed with the Prevent Learning Review, then why did Southport then happen?"
"Everyday I'm waking up having to fight for this, I can't ever move forwards with what will be my very sad life, because the government are not giving me the answers I need."
In the home secretary's letter, she wrote "I have decided to appoint an independent external reviewer to look across the findings of the investigative work ... and to identify whether there are any further unexplored areas for investigation, which might help you get the information and answers that you currently feel have not been forthcoming.
She added: "I realise this is not the answer you were looking for. I remain keen to discuss this with you in the forthcoming meeting with the Prime Minister."
This independent review is expected to commence in September 2025.
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