Former MP Ann Widdecombe was struck 21 times on the head with a hammer as she ate lunch, prosecutors told a London court on Tuesday.
Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court charged with murder. He did not enter a plea and spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address.
Kerry later also appeared at the Old Bailey and was remanded in custody. He is due to appear again at the Old Bailey on 9 October. A provisional trial date has been set for 8 June 2027.
Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in Haytor, Devon, having sustained serious injuries. The alarm was raised when she failed to attend an online interview with Channel 5's Matt Allwright on 8 July.
Prosecutor Kashif Malik alleged that Kerry entered Widdecombe's house through the front door on 8 July while she was eating lunch and asked whether she had bank cards or identification.
Prosecutors claim he then struck her 21 times with a hammer and knocked her from her chair to the floor, before allegedly taking her wallet and driving off, having spent about two minutes inside the property.
An inquest into Widdecombe's death was held on Tuesday morning but an exact cause of death was not given.
Kerry was initially arrested on suspicion of murder on 11 July in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, more than 250 miles from Widdecombe's home. He was later rearrested on suspicion of offences related to terrorism after new evidence emerged.
Widdecombe, a devout Catholic, served as a Conservative member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010 and was prisons minister under Prime Minister John Major in the 1990s.
After leaving Parliament, she became a familiar face on British reality television, appearing on "Strictly Come Dancing" and "Celebrity Big Brother".
She later became a spokesperson for Reform UK, though she was no longer a sitting member of Parliament at the time of her death.
Her death has renewed concern over security for British politicians, which was tightened after the murders of two members of Parliament in the past decade - Labour's Jo Cox, who was killed in 2016, and Conservative David Amess, who was stabbed to death in 2021.
