‘Lone wolf’ attacker Ali Harbi Ali, 26, has been found guilty of murdering Sir David Amess and preparing acts of terrorism.
Conservative MP Sir David was stabbed more than 20 times with a foot-long carving knife as he held a constituency surgery in Essex.
His devastated family said their hearts had been ‘shattered’ by his ‘cruel and violent death’ at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea.
Ali admitted to killing the veteran politician after tricking the politician’s office into believing he was a healthcare worker moving to the area.
But he denied murder and preparing acts of terrorism after the attack on October 15 last year.
He told the Old Bailey he had no regrets over the killing as it meant Sir David could no longer ‘harm Muslims’ – referencing the MP’s previous voting record on the UK’s foreign policy, including air strikes on Syria.
Michael Gove, Dominic Raab and Sir Keir Starmer were all assessed as potential targets as the Londoner spent years hatching the plot, the court heard.
‘If I thought I did anything wrong, I wouldn’t have done it’, Ali told the court.
He continued: ‘I decided to do it because I felt that if I could kill someone who made decisions to kill Muslims, it could prevent further harm to those Muslims.’
‘He voted previously in Parliament, not just him… I decided if I couldn’t make hijrah, if I couldn’t help the Muslims (in Syria), I would do something here.’
When he was asked what difference killing Sir David would make, he replied: ‘For one, he can’t vote again.
‘If he had previous for doing votes like that he won’t do it in the future, and perhaps send a message to his colleagues.’
This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected] Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
Source: Read Full Article