Police arrest second suspect in murder of Brexit politician Ann Widdecombe after initial man released

Arrests and releases

Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed late on Saturday that a second man, aged 28, had been taken into custody in South Yorkshire. Officers from the force’s anti-terror unit, alongside South Yorkshire Police, assisted in the arrest. The man is a British national, and the family of the deceased has been informed. No evidence has emerged that the killing was an act of terrorism, the force added.

Hours earlier, a 26-year-old man who had been held on suspicion of murder since Friday was released. Police stated he was “no longer part of the investigation” and appealed to the public for information. The release stunned a country that had followed the case intensely since the former Conservative minister and Brexit campaigner was found dead at her Dartmoor home.

Discovery of the body

Ann Widdecombe, 78, was discovered dead at her property in Devon on Thursday 9 July. A post-mortem examination confirmed she had sustained severe injuries, and detectives believe she was killed almost 24 hours earlier, on Wednesday 8 July. The isolated location in Dartmoor National Park became the focus of a murder inquiry on Friday after the nature of the wounds left no doubt that a third party was involved.

At a press conference on Friday evening, Police Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman of Devon and Cornwall Police said there was no indication that the crime was politically motivated, nor was it being treated as terrorism. He confirmed the investigation was pursuing multiple lines of inquiry but gave no further detail on a possible motive. The force later clarified that the involvement of counter-terrorism officers in the second arrest was a resource decision and did not signal a shift in the nature of the case.

A career forged in conviction

Widdecombe served as a Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010, representing Maidstone and later Maidstone and The Weald. She held several ministerial posts, most notably as Prisons Minister in the mid-1990s, when she publicly defended the shackling of pregnant inmates. A convert to Roman Catholicism, she advocated the reintroduction of the death penalty, opposed same-sex marriage, and rejected legal recognition of trans people’s chosen gender. In 2019 she left the Tories, joined Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, and sat briefly as a Member of the European Parliament before becoming a spokesperson for the successor party, Reform UK.

Her television appearances softened her image with the wider public. In 2010 she reached the quarter-finals of “Strictly Come Dancing,” winning affection for what she described as her ungainly performances. Later she took part in “Celebrity Big Brother” and other reality formats.

Reactions and party consequences

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage posted a video message on X describing her death as “truly shocking” and crediting her with a decisive role in securing the UK’s exit from the European Union.

She was an extraordinary woman, who stood up and fought for what she believed in.

The death removes one of Farage’s most loyal allies just as Reform UK leads national polls and he prepares for a by-election in Clacton. The party has suspended campaigning while the investigation continues. Police say more information will be released on Sunday.