Oct. 21 (UPI) — British prosecutors said Thursday they have charged a man with murder in the stabbing death of lawmaker David Amess last week.
Amess, 69, was meeting with constituents at a church in Leigh-on-Sea last Friday when police say he was attacked by Ali Harbi Ali, a Briton with Somali heritage.
Ali, 25, was immediately captured and prosecutors said Thursday that he now faces a charge of murder and preparing a terrorist attack.
“We will submit to the court that this murder has a terrorist connection, namely that it had both religious and ideological motivations,” Nick Price, head of the Crown Prosecution Service Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said in a statement.
Ali was scheduled to appear in court later Thursday.
A Conservative Party lawmaker who’d represented Southend West Essex since 1997, Amess was honored in the House of Commons on Monday.
“Some offenses, including murder, can be classed as having ‘a terrorist connection’ to ensure the criminal charges properly reflect the conduct concerned,” the CPS said in a statement.
“In these cases the individuals have had political, religious racial and/or ideological motivations behind their crime.”
Amess is the second member of British Parliament to be killed in the last five years — a fact that’s led to calls for upgraded security for lawmakers.