Sir David Amess: Man found guilty of murdering MP

A man has been found guilty of murdering Sir David Amess MP.

The Southend West MP was stabbed more than 20 times during a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex on 15 October 2021.

Ali Harbi Ali, 26, of Kentish Town, north London, was also found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism by jurors at the Old Bailey.

Ali had denied the charges and claimed he targeted the MP over his vote for airstrikes on Syria.

The jury took 18 minutes to reach its verdicts.

Mr Justice Sweeney said Ali, who refused to stand up in the dock on "religious grounds" as the guilty verdicts were returned, will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Before being sent out, the judge Mr Justice Sweeney told the jury that Ali had no legal defence for the killing.

Ali stabbed Sir David, 69, after tricking his way into a meeting by pretending to be an NHS employee moving to the area.

During the trial, jurors heard how, prior to the attack on Sir David, Ali had also scoped out and planned attacks on other MPs, including a plan to kill cabinet minister Michael Gove who he believed was "a harm to Muslims".

In evidence, Ali told the court he wanted to travel to Syria to join Islamic State but it was too "difficult" so he decided to "help Muslims here" instead.

Ali said he had no regrets or shame about killing Sir David telling the court: "If I thought I did anything wrong, I wouldn't have done it".