Former politician and reality TV contestant Ann Widdecombe was killed in a “targeted attack,” although the motivation is still under investigation, British counterterror police said on Tuesday. A 28-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murder and terror crimes remains in custody on an extended detention warrant under the Terrorism Act that allows police to question him for up to another week. “It is clear that this was a targeted attack,” British National Counter Terrorism Policing head Laurence Taylor told reporters. “We are still working to understand the extent of any planning or preparation, and the motivation that sits behind that attack.”
A police officer walks past flower tributes left outside the home of former British government minister Ann Widdecombe in Haytor, England, on Saturday, after she was found dead.
The death of Widdecombe, 78, a former member of Parliament, shocked the British political establishment, where she was long known for blunt-spoken socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights. Counterterror police took over the investigation on Monday after new evidence was discovered.
Devon and Cornwall Police have been criticized for originally saying the killing was not believed to be a terror-related crime and there was nothing to suggest it was politically motivated. Police believe Widdecombe was attacked on Wednesday last week just past noon. She failed to show up for a scheduled TV interview about an hour later and was found dead the next day in her isolated rural home in a village in southwest England. Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained “serious injuries.” Taylor called it a “brutal attack on a 78-year-old lady in her own home.” The suspect was arrested on Saturday in South Yorkshire County in northern England, more than 320km from the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park, where Widdecombe died. Police have conducted extensive searches at his home and Taylor said they found evidence of planning, but he declined to provide details. The man was arrested on suspicion of murder, but additional evidence found while he was in custody led police to rearrest him on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Widdecombe was in the House of Commons from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in then-British prime minister John Major’s 1990s Conservative government. She found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the reality television shows Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.
