Hartlepool MP Jill Mortimer 'devastated' for family of Conservative colleague Sir David Amess
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She has also vowed to continue holding surgeries with her own constituents here in Hartlepool and added: “The people who come to see me are there for my help and I am determined to give them that help.”
Sir David, 69, the Tory MP for for Southend West, was fatally injured at Belfairs Methodist Church, in Leigh-on-Sea, in Essex, early on Friday afternoon.
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Hide AdA man was soon arrested by Essex Police and remains in custody.
Mrs Mortimer, who was elected as Hartlepool’s first Conservative MP for 57 years at May’s Parliamentary by-election, was at her constituency office in town when she learned of Sir David’s death.
Speaking to the Mail shortly afterwards, she said: “I am absolutely devastated for his family.
"He got up this morning like the rest of us to go to work and he won’t be going home tonight to his family.
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Hide Ad“You do this job to help other people and your life is cruelly taken away like this in a church. It is extremely sad.”
Adding that she “knew him in passing”, she said: “It is shocking to lose a colleague like this and I imagine it will be shocking for the whole country.
"My family were on the phone straight away to me because the first thing they heard was that a Conservative MP had been stabbed.”
Mrs Mortimer has vowed to continue meeting constituents at her own surgeries, which are already held at Hartlepool Civic Centre on security grounds, and said: "It is a really important part of the job to see our constituents as often as we can because the people who come to see are there for my help and I determined to give them that help.
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Hide Ad"They have come to see me because they want help with something in their lives so I am determined that they will continue.”
Hartlepool Labour Party have also offered their sympathy to Sir David’s family.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, they said: “Hartlepool Labour Party is deeply saddened and shocked by the news of the murder of Sir David Amess MP.
"Our thoughts are with his family at this desperately sad time.
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Hide Ad“This senseless killing is an attack on the very fabric of our very democracy and we stand united with the Conservative Party, including our own MP Jill Mortimer, MP for Hartlepool, in the face of this tragic loss.”
Meanwhile, former Hartlepool MP Iain Wright, who served the town in Parliament from 2004 to 2017, said: “This is so distressing.
"Sir David was a dedicated constituency MP and parliamentarian, and a lovely gentleman.”
In a statement, Essex Police said on Friday afternoon: “We were called to reports of a stabbing in Eastwood Road North, Leigh-on-Sea shortly, after 12.05pm today.
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Hide Ad“Officers were on scene shortly after, arrested a man and recovered a knife. He is currently in custody.”