David Amess: Father ‘traumatised’ after son held over MP’s killing

‘It’s not something that I expected or even dreamt of,’ says Harbi Ali Kullane

The father of the suspect in the fatal stabbing of Tory MP Sir David Amess has said he feels “traumatised” by his son’s arrest.

Police have yet to officially name the person detained on Friday after the killing of the veteran parliamentarian.

But Harbi Ali Kullane said his 25-year-old son, Ali Harbi Ali, was being held in custody by police.

The BBC and several other news outlets have also named the same man as the suspect in detention.

Mr Kullane, who was said to be a former adviser to the prime minister of Somalia, told The Sunday Times: “I’m feeling very traumatised. It’s not something that I expected or even dreamt of.”

He said that police from Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorist unit had visited him.

Police said on Friday that a 25-year-old man had been arrested immediately at the scene on suspicion of murder.

He is believed to be a British national with Somali heritage and is being held at a London police station.

On Saturday, investigators were granted a warrant of further detention, which allows detectives to hold the man until 22 October.

The Metropolitan Police declared the incident an act of terrorism, with early investigations revealing “a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism”.

The investigation is said to be assuming there was an Islamist extremist motivation for the attack.

But it is understood the suspect was not, and had not previously been, a subject of interest for security services.

However, several media reports said the suspect has the same details as a man previously referred to Prevent, although there has been no official confirmation of whether this is the case.

As part of the investigation, officers are carrying out searches at three addresses in and around London. One search has now concluded.

Sir David, 69, who had been an MP since 1983, was meeting constituents at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea on Friday afternoon when he was stabbed multiple times.