{"id":1082655,"date":"2026-07-11T12:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1082655\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T12:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:18:16","slug":"police-in-britain-release-man-arrested-over-widdecombe-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1082655\/","title":{"rendered":"Police in Britain release man arrested over Widdecombe killing"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 British police on Saturday released a 26-year-old man they arrested as a suspect in the killing of Ann Widdecombe<\/a>, a former British member of Parliament and reality TV contestant.<\/p>\n

Devon and Cornwall Police said the man was no longer under investigation. The force said detectives are working at \u201cat a significant pace\u201d to find the killer, and they don\u2019t believe there is a risk to the public.<\/p>\n

Widdecombe, 78, was found dead Thursday in her isolated rural home in the village of Haytor on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in southwest England. Police did not disclose a cause of death, saying only that she had sustained \u201cserious injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police said they believe Widdecombe was attacked at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Concerns were raised for her after she failed to appear for a scheduled TV interview on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The now-released suspect was arrested Friday in a town a few miles away. <\/p>\n

Police later said the killing was not believed to be an act of terror and there was no information to suggest it was politically motivated.<\/p>\n

The death sent shock waves through British politics, where Widdecombe had been a prominent voice for decades, known for her robust personality and socially conservative views opposing abortion and the expansion of LGBTQ rights.<\/p>\n

She was a lawmaker in the House of Commons as an MP from 1987 to 2010, serving in roles including prisons minister in Prime Minister John Major\u2019s 1990s Conservative government.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

\"Britain's<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Widdecombe found fame after leaving Parliament as a contestant on the reality television shows \u201cStrictly Come Dancing\u201d and \u201cCelebrity Big Brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

She later joined the Brexit Party, briefly serving as a member of the European Parliament before Britain left the European Union in 2020. Most recently, she joined the anti-immigration Reform UK party, often appearing in the media as a spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Friends and colleagues contrasted her pugnacious political statements with her personal kindness and good humor. <\/p>\n

Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/a> called her death \u201creally shocking news,\u201d and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said she \u201creally struggled to find the words to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a nasty, horrific attack and my heart is breaking for her family,\u201d Badenoch said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said he was deeply upset over Widdecombe\u2019s death and claimed that \u201cthings have become even more dangerous\u201d for people in public life.<\/p>\n

Security has been tightened for politicians after the murders of two serving members of Parliament in the past decade. Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed<\/a> in 2016 by a far-right extremist, and Conservative David Amess was stabbed<\/a> in 2021 by an attacker inspired by the Islamic State group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 British police on Saturday released a 26-year-old man they arrested as a suspect in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1082656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[295937,748,15897,31956,393,299,4179,4884,80888,113989,807,257,384,1144,285,712,13466,16,15,1764,263],"class_list":["post-1082655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-ann-widdecombe","tag-britain","tag-conservatism","tag-david-amess","tag-england","tag-europe","tag-general-news","tag-great-britain","tag-jo-cox","tag-john-major","tag-keir-starmer","tag-london","tag-nigel-farage","tag-northern-ireland","tag-politics","tag-scotland","tag-terrorism","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116901309713333254","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082655","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=1082655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1082655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1082656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1082655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1082655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1082655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}