LONDON: British Conservative lawmaker David Amess has died after being stabbed Friday during a meeting with constituents at a church in eastern England. A 25-year-old man has been arrested.
The Essex Police force said officers were called to reports of a stabbing in Leigh-on-Sea just after noon Friday. It said “a man was arrested and a knife recovered.
“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," police said.
The force said later that a man injured in the stabbing had died. It did not release his name. The suspect is being being held on suspicion of murder, police said.
Sky News and others said Amess was attacked during a regular meeting with constituents at Belfairs Methodist Church in a residential area of Leigh-on-Sea, a seaside town east of London.
Aerial footage showed several ambulances and an air ambulance was waiting nearby to the church.
John Lamb, a local councilor, said Amess had not been taken to hospital more than two hours after the attack and the situation was “extremely serious.”
Amess, 69, had been a member of Parliament for Southend West, which includes Leigh-on-Sea, since 1997, but has been a lawmaker since 1983. He was a well-liked member of Parliament, best known for his ceaseless campaign to have Southend declared a city.
Politicians from across the political spectrum expressed shock at initial reports of the stabbing. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer tweeted that it was “Horrific and deeply shocking news. Thinking of David, his family and his staff.”
Former Prime Minister David Cameron, a Conservative, tweeted: “Very alarming and worrying news reports coming from Leigh-on-Sea. My thoughts and prayers are with Sir David Amess and his family.”
Not the first time
Attacks on individual lawmakers in Britain are rare, but the nature of their work can leave them exposed in face-to-face encounters with strangers.
In Westminster, where lawmakers do much of their work in parliament, armed police patrol the entrances, corridors and halls. In their home electoral districts, known as constituencies, more often than not there is no security.
Here are some more lawmakers who have been attacked while at - or going to - constituency surgeries.
Jo Cox, 2016
Opposition Labour party lawmaker Jo Cox was shot dead in the street the week before Britain's vote on whether to leave the European Union. A vocal supporter of Britain remaining in the EU, she was attacked while preparing to meet constituents in her electoral district.
Thomas Mair, 53, a loner obsessed with Nazis and extreme right-wing ideology, shot and stabbed the 41-year-old mother of two, shouting "Britain first" during the attack and later giving his name in court as "death to traitors, freedom for Britain".
He was sentenced to life in prison in November 2016.
Stephen Timms, 2010
Labour member and ex-cabinet minister Stephen Timms was stabbed in the stomach at his office in east London during a constituency meeting by a 21-year-old student who was angry over his backing for the 2003 Iraq war.
He survived the attack after emergency surgery, and is still a lawmaker. His attacker was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 15 years.
Nigel Jones, 2000
In 2000, a Liberal Democrat local councillor was murdered by a man with a samurai sword at the offices in western England of lawmaker Nigel Jones, who was also seriously hurt in the attack.
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