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.

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.

“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.