Revealed: The ‘quiet and shy’ 28-year-old suspect held over the murder of Ann Widdecombe

This man smiling at the camera is the man suspected of killing Ann Widdecombe.

Joshua Kerry, seen here for the first time, is accused of targeting the 78-year-old former Tory minister at his home in Devon in a suspected terror attack.

The 28-year-old has been living alone in a council house in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, since the death of his father last year.

The family is well known on the Kimberworth Park estate and many of its members have served in the military.

His father, Paul Yates, a ‘highly intelligent’ former steel industry research engineer, stopped working after losing his leg and was diagnosed with stomach cancer in his 60s.

After leaving school, Kerry found an office job at a lift company, where she was photographed holding a jar of Easter eggs as part of a fundraiser for a local charity in 2022.

This person, shared by staff on social media, was described as ‘part of the engine room’ of the company.

Neighbors this week described him as polite, ‘quiet and shy’ and said he would take out the bins or hold packages for them.

It is believed to be the day former MP and Tory minister Ann Widdecombe, who appeared on TalkTV on 8 July, was murdered

‘When his dad was sick, Josh would take him shopping in his car,’ one resident said. However, after the death of his father, Kerry stopped working.

Born in Rotherham, Kerry was raised by her mother Siobhan, a teaching assistant, along with her older brother and half-brother after their parents separated.

‘Joshua was a very quiet boy,’ an uncle recalled this week. ‘Kind and gentle.

‘When they were all little I would go around and the two biggest would fight and roll around on the floor and Joshua would sit in the corner and watch them.’

His parents remarried and his siblings moved away to pursue successful careers, leaving him to live alone on a council estate.

An aunt said the shock death of her father, who was hospitalized around Christmas and ‘never came out again’, was a ‘bad setback’ for Kerry.

Detectives believe the former Tory minister was murdered at around 12.30pm on Wednesday, July 8.

The footage shows a group of armed police raiding the 28-year-old’s property in Rotherham last Saturday.

Coroners at the home where Joshua Kerry lived alone in Rotherham, South Yorkshire

Floral gifts, including a framed photograph of the former MP, outside Ms Widdecombe’s home

According to neighbors, Kerry did not leave the house from Wednesday until Saturday, when he was seen putting something in the wheelie bin.

At around 9pm that evening, a dozen police officers swooped in and arrested Kerry on suspicion of murder.

Courtney Foster, 25, who lives next door, said: ‘We saw the police coming running. Some were armed. Then they knocked on the door very loudly.

‘They asked him his name, he confirmed it and they took him away.’

The following day the eight-year-old red Vauxhall Corsa was towed away.

A neighbor said he was ‘in shock’ over Kerry’s arrest.

‘He comes from a family as nice as a mouse, quiet and sweet,’ he said. ‘His mother and brothers were wonderful; I couldn’t speak highly enough of them.’

Police initially treated the incident as a botched burglary, but re-arrested Kerry on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorist acts, allegedly having discovered new ‘evidence’ suggesting terrorist motivation.

He remains in custody and may be held for questioning until Tuesday.