On 15 October 2021, Sir David Amess, a British Conservative Party politician and Member of Parliament for Southend West, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. His killer was Ali Harbi Ali, a British Islamic State sympathiser, who was arrested at the scene. In April 2022, Ali was convicted of murder and the preparation of terrorist acts, and sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.

Sir David Anthony Andrew Amess was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southend West from 1997 until his murder in 2021. He previously served as MP for Basildon from 1983 to 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Catholic with socially conservative political views, and was in favour of Britain leaving the European Union.