UK police free suspect in ex-MP Ann Widdecombe murder investigation

A man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering former British government minister Ann Widdecombe has been released and is no longer part of the investigation, police said.

This comes as detectives revealed the killing took place a day before Widdecombe’s body was found at her home in rural southwest England on Thursday.

Devon and Cornwall Police said a 26-year-old white British national was arrested in Newton Abbot, about 14.5 kilometres (nine miles) from Widdecombe’s home, on Friday, before being freed on Saturday.

Officers now believe the 78-year-old was attacked on Wednesday around 11:30 GMT, a day before ambulance workers called police to her home, where she was found dead with serious injuries.

Police said they had found no evidence the killing was “terrorism”-related or politically motivated.

They also said the suspect was believed to be a white male and that there was no wider risk to the public.

Widdecombe was known for her socially conservative views, first as ⁠a junior minister in Conservative Prime Minister John Major’s 1992-1997 government and latterly as an immigration spokesperson for Nigel Farage’s far-right populist Reform UK.

She converted to Catholicism partly in protest at the Church of England’s ordination of women as priests and was opposed to abortion and to equalising ⁠the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual relationships.

She also defended a policy of shackling pregnant prisoners during childbirth to prevent their escape and viewed single mothers as poor role ⁠models, but was unusual among Conservative lawmakers in opposing the hunting of ⁠foxes with hounds.

News of her death led to tributes on Friday from across the political spectrum in the UK, including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and from Farage, who described her as “an extraordinary woman”.

“She stood up and fought for what she believed in – a devout Christian and somebody with strong, socially ‌conservative views,” Farage said in a video clip posted on his X account.

Two serving British members of parliament have been murdered in the last decade.

The Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed by a Nazi-obsessed loner during the Brexit ‌campaign in 2016.

The Conservative lawmaker David Amess was stabbed to death in 2021 by a man inspired by the ISIL (ISIS) group.