Malik told the chief magistrate that security camera footage from her home in Haytor, Devon, showed she had been fatally attacked the day before.
He added that police were still investigating whether there was a terrorism connection or political motivation for the attack.
Kerry, from Rotherham, was charged with one count of murder on Monday night following an investigation led by counter-terrorism detectives.
He appeared emotionless in the dock and spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and address during the short hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He was not asked to indicate a plea.
Later on Tuesday, he also appeared at the Old Bailey. It is expected that he will be remanded at HMP Belmarsh in south-east London.
He will next appear at the same court on 9 October for a case management hearing.
A provisional trial date has been listed for 8 June 2027.
The court heard that a pathologist had given a provisional cause of Widdecombe’s death as a blunt force injury to the head.
An earlier inquest hearing, that was opened and adjourned on Tuesday, heard that emergency services were called on the day Widdecombe was found, but she was pronounced dead at 12:20.
The hearing was also told that while a post-mortem examination had taken place, “at this stage the precise medical cause of death has yet to be established”.
Widdecombe’s career in politics spanned decades.
She served as Conservative MP for Maidstone in Kent for 23 years and was appointed to ministerial roles in Sir John Major’s government in the 1990s.
Following her departure from the Commons, Widdecombe appeared on the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing in 2010 and was a runner-up on Celebrity Big Brother eight years later.
She later represented South West England as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Brexit Party and in 2023 she joined Reform UK as a party spokeswoman.
