A requiem mass for the former MP, MEP and government minister will be held at Buckfast Abbey.

Ann Widdecombe’s funeral service will take place on Wednesday at the Catholic abbey where she regularly worshipped.

A requiem mass will be held for the former Tory minister, who became a Reform UK spokeswoman, at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.

Miss Widdecombe was a frequent worshipper in the Abbey Church.

Buckfast Abbey
Ann Widdecombe’s private funeral service will be held at Buckfast Abbey (Matt Keeble/PA)

The former MP, 78, died on July 8 after she was hit over the head with a hammer 21 times at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor, Devon.

Joshua Kerry, 28, was charged with her murder on July 20.

The private requiem mass will include a homily from the Rt Rev David Charlesworth, Abbot of Buckfast.

A statement from the abbey said  Miss Widdecombe would be “missed and fondly remembered” and “many in our worshipping community knew her as a kind and warm character”.

“Ann was a woman of profound faith, a faith which found expression in the public forum of politics,” the statement said.

Buckfast Abbey interior
Ann Widdecombe was a regular worshipper at the Abbey Church (Matt Keeble/PA)

“Ann was unafraid to express her unwavering convictions, formed through her Roman Catholic faith. She had a sharp intellect and was a dedicated public servant.”

A public memorial for Miss Widdecombe will be held later this year.

Miss Widdecombe was first elected as a Conservative MP in Kent in 1987, was a prisons minister in the 1990s and later became an MEP for the Brexit Party.

At the time of her death she was a spokeswoman on immigration and justice for Reform UK.

She also found fame outside politics on Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.

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