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Man arrested after MP Sir David Amess stabbed at constituency surgery

PA
·3-min read

A man has been arrested after Conservative MP Sir David Amess was reportedly stabbed several times at a surgery in his Southend West constituency.

The 69-year-old was attacked on Friday at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea.

In a statement, Essex Police said officers arrived at the scene in Eastwood Road North shortly after 12.05pm and arrested a man.

A knife was also recovered from the area.

The statement said: “We were called to reports of a stabbing in Eastwood Road North, #LeighonSea shortly after 12.05pm today.

“Officers were on scene shortly after, arrested a man and recovered a knife. He is currently in custody.

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“We are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident and do not believe there is an ongoing threat to the wider public.

“We want to thank the public who alerted us to the incident so quickly.”

A spokesman for his office in Westminster said: “The incident has happened. I don’t know what the incident is. We are still waiting.”

An employee of Jean’s Laundry, near Belfair’s Methodist Church, said she did not know anything about the situation but had seen emergency service vehicles go by.

“We just saw all the police and the ambulances turning up, it was probably about half past 12 or just before then,” she told the PA news agency.

“I saw about two or three ambulances and then an undercover police car and other police cars going past.

“There’s usually people walking past, elderly people walking to the shops. We’ve still got no idea what’s going on, we’re not very busy on a Friday and no one has come in to talk to us about it.”

Brendan Cox, widower of late Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in an attack in 2016, described the stabbing of Sir David Amess as “as cowardly as it gets”.

He tweeted: “Attacking our elected representatives is an attack on democracy itself. There is no excuse, no justification. It is as cowardly as it gets.”

Conservative MP and former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith tweeted: “My thoughts are with David Amess MP and his family at this awful time.

“Praying for a full recovery following this appalling, shocking news. This angry, violent behaviour cannot be tolerated in politics or any other walk of life…”

In a tweet, former prime minister David Cameron said: “Very alarming and worrying news reports coming from Leigh-on-Sea. My thoughts and prayers are with Sir David Amess and his family.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tweeted: “Horrific and deeply shocking news. Thinking of David, his family and his staff.”

Media opportunities to film the start of a Cabinet meeting on Friday have been cancelled, as was a planned interview with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, which was due to take place afterwards.

It is unclear whether the Cabinet meeting is going ahead.

Essex Police said anyone with information should contact the force quoting incident 445 of 15 October.