Counter-terrorism police have been tasked with investigating the murder of British politician Ann Widdecombe, spokesperson for the anti-immigration Reform UK party and former Conservative MP, Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood announced on Monday.
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“Following new information and evidence,” counterterrorism police “are now tasked with investigating the horrific murder of Ann Widdecombe,” Ms. Mahmood wrote on X. “The police are exploring several avenues to establish the motivations for this attack,” she added.
A 28-year-old man, a “white British national”, arrested on Saturday evening, was arrested again, this time suspected of having committed, prepared or incited to commit acts of terrorism, said counter-terrorism police in South East England.
Ann Widdecombe, 78, was found dead on Thursday at her home in Haytor, in the Devon region (southwest of England). She had “serious injuries,” said the anti-terrorist police.
She was a Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010 and Secretary of State for Prisons (1995-1997). A fervent supporter of Brexit, Ann Widdecombe left the Tories in 2019 to join Nigel Farage’s party, under whose banner she was elected an MEP, before becoming spokesperson for Reform UK.
Ann Widdecombe was also known to the public for having participated in the British version of “Dancing with the Stars” and the reality television show “Celebrity Big Brother”.
Deputy local police chief Matt Longman said on Saturday afternoon that the attack probably “took place on Wednesday July 8 around 12:30 p.m.”, 24 hours before the discovery of Ms. Widdecombe’s body.
The day before, this official said he had “no information allowing us to confirm that this was a crime of a political nature”.
Nigel Farage reacted on Friday night on X by saying his death was a “terrible reflection of modern Britain”, saying things had “become even more dangerous today” for elected politicians.
