{"id":1082239,"date":"2026-07-11T07:31:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1082239\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T07:31:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T07:31:22","slug":"suspect-in-former-uk-mp-ann-widdecombes-murder-investigation-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1082239\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect in former UK MP Ann Widdecombe’s murder investigation released"},"content":{"rendered":"

UK police have released a 26-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering Ann Widdecombe, a 78-year-old former government minister.<\/p>\n

Miss Widdecombe was a Conservative member of parliament between 1987 and 2010, and held several junior ministerial positions in former prime minister John Major’s government.<\/p>\n

Police said they were called to Miss Widdecombe’s address about midday on Thursday where she was found to have suffered serious injuries and died.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Devon and Cornwall Police said the man had been released from custody and was “no longer part of the investigation”.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Ann Widdecombe was found dead at her home. She had suffered serious injuries. (AP: Matt Keeble\/PA)<\/p>\n

The arrest was part of a “fast-moving investigation”, police added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our priority remains identifying those responsible and ensuring that all available evidence is thoroughly examined,” Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Detectives continue to carry out numerous enquiries as part of the ongoing investigation and we remain committed to establishing the full circumstances surrounding the incident.”<\/p>\n

He said road closures and forensic examinations remained at the scene of Miss Widdecombe’s house.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Road closures remain outside the former MP’s home.\u00a0 (AP: Matt Keeble\/PA)<\/p>\n

Public urged not to speculate on social media<\/p>\n

Assistant Chief Constable Longman also urged the public not to speculate \u00a0about the former MP’s death, especially on social media.<\/p>\n

“This is not only potentially harmful to our investigation but also deeply distressing for family and friends of Miss Widdecombe,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The family have also asked for their privacy to be respected as they come to terms with what has happened.”<\/p>\n

The assistant chief constable urged those with any information to come forward.<\/p>\n

UK police probe death of former minister<\/a><\/p>\n

The 78-year-old, who found fame as a Strictly Come Dancing contestant when she left office, was found dead at her home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Our murder enquiry is in its early stages but moving at a significant pace,” he added.<\/p>\n

“We are deploying all of the necessary resources to find out exactly what has happened.”<\/p>\n

Earlier, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had urged the nation to “come together across the political divide” in tribute to Miss Widdecombe’s public service.<\/p>\n

Throughout her political career, Miss Widdecombe was known for her socially conservative views, including opposition to abortion and to equalising the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual relationships.<\/p>\n

She also defended a policy of shackling pregnant prisoners during childbirth to prevent their escape.<\/p>\n

After leaving parliament, she appeared on the TV talent show Strictly Come Dancing in 2010.<\/p>\n

Despite her awkward dancing style and criticism from the judges, she was popular with viewers.<\/p>\n

She later joined Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party and served as a member of the European parliament between 2019 and 2020. Her most recent post was as immigration spokesperson for Reform UK, the rebranded Brexit Party, which leads in most opinion polls.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK police have released a 26-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of murdering Ann Widdecombe, a 78-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1082240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[295937,748,393,4884,1144,34066,712,16,3106,15,1764],"class_list":["post-1082239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-ann-widdecombe","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-northern-ireland","tag-reform","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116900180209485696","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1082239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1082240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}