A 28-year-old was detained in South Yorkshire on suspicion of the former minister’s murder, hours after the first man arrested was released and eliminated from the investigation.
A 28-year-old man has been arrested in the South Yorkshire area on suspicion of murdering Ann Widdecombe, Devon and Cornwall Police have said.
The force said the suspect, a white British national, is in police custody and that Widdecombe’s family have been informed. South Yorkshire Police carried out the arrest, with Devon and Cornwall Police assisted by Counter Terrorism Policing North East — though the force stressed there remains no information to suggest the incident is terrorism-related.
In a statement, Devon and Cornwall Police described the case as “a live and active investigation,” adding that no further information would be released overnight and that updates would follow on Sunday.
The arrest marks a significant turn in the inquiry. A 26-year-old man detained on Friday at an address in Newton Abbot was released from custody on Saturday and is no longer part of the investigation, ITV News reported.
Widdecombe, 78, the former Conservative prisons minister who later became a Brexit Party MEP and Reform UK spokeswoman, was found dead at her home in Haytor, on Dartmoor in Devon, on Thursday, having sustained serious injuries. According to ITV News, detectives believe the attack took place at around 12.30pm on Wednesday 8 July — approximately 24 hours before she was discovered — and Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman has said the force’s priority remains identifying those responsible, with detectives pursuing numerous lines of enquiry. Police have previously said the death is not being treated as terrorism and that there is nothing to indicate a politically motivated crime.
Widdecombe’s family have asked for their privacy to be respected as they come to terms with her death.
