David Amess’s daughter sues police for failing to stop terrorist killer
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The daughter of Sir David Amess is suing a police force and the Home Office over their failure to stop the terrorist who killed him.
Sir David, one of the country’s most respected parliamentarians, was stabbed to death by Islamist extremist Ali Harbi Ali during his weekly constituency surgery in Southend in October 2021.
Ali was referred to Prevent, the Government’s deradicalisation programme, in 2014 but was left unchecked to carry out the attack after just one meeting, having deceived officers into thinking he was not a threat.
He was sentenced to life in prison in April 2022 after a jury took just 18 minutes to find him guilty.
Katie Amess, Sir David’s 38-year-old daughter, has now filed a High Court civil case for “personal injury” against Essex Police and the Home Office, the Mirror first reported.
Daniel Machover, the head of civil litigation at Hickman & Rose, said: “Like so many others, Katie Amess was horrified both by the fact of her father’s murder, and the circumstances surrounding it.
“She has issued a claim at court as part of her desire to ensure proper accountability and learning from Sir David’s murder.”
Terrorist boasted of manipulating Prevent
A landmark review of Prevent last February found that counter-extremism efforts should focus on the dangerous ideology of terrorists rather than their mental health.
Ali targeted Sir David because he was among MPs who had voted to bomb Islamic State in Syria.
He boasted during his murder trial about how easily he appeared compliant when forced to engage with the Prevent process.
“I just knew to nod my head and say yes and they would leave me alone afterwards and they did,” he told a court in April 2022.
In the wake of Sir David’s murder, MPs were encouraged to hire private security guards to keep them safe while they conduct surgeries with constituencies.
A Home Office spokesman told The Telegraph: “The government takes the safety of members of Parliament extremely seriously, and significant work has been taken forward in response to the tragic killing of Sir David Amess.
“It would be inappropriate to comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
Essex Police said in a statement: “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.
“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.”
Essex Police sources emphasised that the protective claim form is mostly used when the time period within which claims must be submitted is coming to an end, and did not necessarily mean that legal proceedings would definitely follow.
