🚨 THE MYSTERY DEEPENS… DETECTIVES APPEAL FOR HELP AS NEW DETAILS EMERGE.
Ann Widdecombe’s body lay undiscovered for 24 hours, detectives reveal – as they release 26-year-old and launch fresh manhunt for her killer
Ann Widdecombe‘s body lay undiscovered for 24 hours, murder detectives have revealed today.
The ex-Tory minister is believed to have been attacked at her remote bungalow in Haytor, on Dartmoor, at around 12.30pm on Wednesday.
But the 78-year-old was not discovered until 11.40am the next day, when a gardener found the former MP and MEP in a pool of blood with serious injuries in the kitchen of her home.
Police announced today that they are still searching for her suspected killer, who is believed to be a white male.
A 26-year-old white British man who was arrested on Friday was released from custody this morning and is no longer part of the investigation.
Detectives said the case is ‘moving at significant pace’ and ‘our priority remains identifying those responsible’ for Ms Widdecombe’s death.
It comes after new details emerged about Ms Widdecombe’s final hours, as it was revealed the alarm was raised after she failed to appear on Channel 5‘s Matt Allwright show at 1pm on Wednesday.
She was last seen in an interview on Talk TV at around 8am the same day.
A researcher on the Channel 5 show had spoken to Ms Widdecombe on the phone earlier in the afternoon to set up the interview.
After the call, the researcher exchanged messages with Ms Widdecombe, with her last message received at 12.19pm.
The researcher then messaged again at 12.48pm requesting that Ms Widdecombe join the Zoom link in preparation for the remote interview, but she did not reply.
Subsequent voice calls and messages asking if everything was OK went unanswered. Concerns were raised by the show’s research team about the uncharacteristic lack of response from Ms Widdecombe, who was a regular on the show.
They contacted her agent later on Wednesday and followed up again on Thursday.
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Ann Widdecombe was found dead at her remote bungalow in Dartmoor yesterday
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Police remain at the murder scene this morning with a cordon still in place at the property
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A forensics officer collects evidence from Ms Widdecombe’s home as police continue to search for clues
This morning, a cordon remains in place at Ms Widdecombe’s remote Dartmoor property.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman provided an update on the force’s investigation today and said: ‘Our priority remains identifying those responsible and ensuring that all available evidence is thoroughly examined.
‘Detectives continue to carry out numerous inquiries as part of the ongoing investigation and we remain committed to establishing the full circumstances surrounding the incident.’
He said the investigation was ‘moving at a significant pace’, adding: ‘We are deploying all of the necessary resources to find out exactly what has happened.
‘I would appeal to anyone who may have information about this incident, however insignificant it may seem, to come forward and speak with us.
‘We will release further information when we are able to do so. In the meantime, I would ask people not to speculate about what might have happened, particularly on social media.
‘This is not only potentially harmful to our investigation but also deeply distressing for family and friends of Miss Widdecombe. The family have also asked for their privacy to be respected as they come to terms with what has happened.
‘We have set up a major incident public portal for information, images or footage to be submitted to us. This can be found on our website.
‘Information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers.’
Miss Widdecombe was previously a Brexit Party MEP and subsequently became Reform UK’s Immigration and Justice spokesperson.
In a post on X Channel 5 presenter Dan Walker said that Miss Widdecombe had been due to appear on 5 Daytime on Wednesday afternoon ‘but stopped responding to messages and didn’t turn up for the show’.
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Miss Widdecombe is pictured here appearing on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine show
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She was due to appear on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show on Wednesday at 1pm but failed to appear
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Miss Widdecombe’s driver of ten years Peter Horrell, 72, laid a floral tribute outside her home today
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Forensics officers are continuing to gather evidence at the property today
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Floral tributes and framed photo of Miss Widdecombe have been laid her home
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Officers believe Miss Widdecombe was attacked at around 12.30pm on Wednesday – 24 hours before her body was found
He added: ‘The team contacted her agent to ask them to check in on her. This information has been passed to police as it’s part of the investigation.’
Last night, a source close to the family said: ‘We’re in total shock and disbelief. It was hard enough to find out we’d lost Ann – but we still have yet to come to terms with the fact that she died in such brutal circumstances. Perhaps we never will.
‘She was a little, frail old lady. What we find most difficult of all is that she must have been in abject terror for the last minutes of her life.’
Miss Widdecombe’s driver of ten years, Peter Horrell, 72, laid a floral tribute outside her home today.
Speaking to journalists, he said Miss Widdecombe had ‘never mentioned any fear’ for her safety and that she loved living in Haytor.
Mr Horrell said: ‘When I saw it yesterday, I thought she had had a heart attack or a stroke or something.
‘Of course, then later it turned out it was a suspected murder. (I was) just shocked, absolute shock.’
Mr Horrell said he spoke to Miss Widdecombe’s personal assistant afterwards, who ‘didn’t know at that time what had happened’.
The driver said it was ‘very sad’, adding: ‘I just couldn’t believe it.’
He said he last worked with her when he drove her to Yeovil in Somerset, adding that she ‘always looked after me’ and ‘made sure I had something to eat’.
Asked whether she had ever expressed any concern for her safety, he said: ‘Not really, she seemed quite happy living up here by herself. You never expect it, do you? Well I certainly didn’t. You know, very sad.’
Mr Horrell said Miss Widdecombe ‘loved’ living in the area, adding: ‘She loved walking up on the moors and, as you know, she got a swimming pool at the back. So if she come back late or late-ish she’d always have the brandy and go for a swim.
‘She was a great lady, very kind. You know, she was absolutely a privilege to take in the car, and she was funny at times.’
He added: ‘I like her because if you asked her a question, you’d get a direct answer. There was no mucking about. She was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
‘I thought she was a great politician. She was very strong in her views. I don’t think you’d be able to replace that sort of person, not really. Could be a little bit outspoken at times, but that was Ann.’
Meanwhile, neighbours have been speaking today of their shock following the grisly discovery.
Christine Maloney, who lives near Miss Widdecombe’s home in Haytor, said the area was ‘very safe’ and it was not unusual for people to leave their cars and front doors unlocked.
She said of the former MP: ‘My husband saw her a week ago, driving around. I’m very shocked at (her death), it shouldn’t have happened, it’s horrific.
‘Everyone knows that’s her house, perhaps that’s the problem?’
She added: ‘It’s got to be someone that’s local or knows her. Whoever did it, I think they should put him out for the locals to deal with him.’
Alison and Simon Gilbert, who have lived in Haytor Vale for more than a decade, said Miss Widdecombe was a well-known figure locally.
Mrs Gilbert said: ‘She was a nice woman, really nice woman, and she had a great sense of humour. It’s a lovely area – you talk to strangers.
‘Everyone saw her as quite an opinionated politician, but to us she was just a person in the community.
‘First of all, we got back and saw police and thought maybe it was a burglary, a lot of us suspected she had a heart attack or something.’
‘She didn’t deserve to die like that,’ Mr Gilbert added.
Miss Widdecombe, a Brexiteer and devout Catholic, refused to be cowed by terrorists – even after the murder of fellow MP and ‘best friend in Parliament,’ Sir David Amess.
Asked last October whether she ever feared being physically attacked because of her beliefs and high profile, Miss Widdecombe said defiantly: ‘No.’
‘I took a very robust attitude,’ she said. ‘In my day, it was the IRA and I suppose I had a slightly faithless attitude.
‘I remember I used to get death threats from time to time. We all did, and my staff would say, ‘Shall we tell the police?’
‘I’d say, ‘Put it in the bin,’ because if the IRA are going to do it, they’re not going to tell you in advance, they’re just going to do it. As they did with Airey Neave [assassinated in a 1979 car bomb].
‘I still take that attitude. I do know that we’re in a slightly different world but I think it’s crucial that MPs and their constituents intermingle freely.’ She said Sir David, 69, who was stabbed to death by Islamic State fanatic Ali Harbi Ali while holding a constituency surgery in Leigh–on–Sea, Essex, in October 2021, agreed with her.
‘I knew him terribly well, and his family, of course,’ she added. ‘I know, and I said this to his widow, who agreed with me, that he would never want his death used as a reason to distance MPs from their constituents.
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Miss Widdecombe inside her kitchen where it is believed her body was found
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Flowers left outside Miss Widdecombe’s home in devon following her death
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Ex–Tory minister Ann Widdecombe was found dead at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor on Thursday after sustaining serious injuries.
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Police outside Miss Widdecombe’s home in Devon. Today, Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed the release of a 26–year–old man from custody, following his arrest on Friday
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Officers outside Miss Widdecombe’s home. The force said the investigation was ‘moving at a significant pace’
‘His belief, and it is still my belief, that an MP should be able to walk through the town on a Saturday afternoon, talk to their constituents. I feel very strongly about that.’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said her murder was a ‘terrible reflection on modern Britain’.
He said: ‘Our nation is a much, much poorer place without her. Reform UK is certainly a much worse place without her. I was expecting to see her in Clacton over the course of the next few days. Sadly, that is not going to happen.’
Sir Keir Starmer urged people to ‘come together’ across political divides following the murder. He said: ‘This is really shocking news, and my thoughts, I think all of our thoughts, will be with the family and friends of Ann Widdecombe at this awful time for them.
‘Ann was a distinguished politician over many, many years with many achievements, and it’s a huge, huge loss.’
Conservative leader Mrs Badenoch said: ‘I don’t understand how someone could do something so horrific to an elderly person. It was a nasty, horrific attack and my heart is breaking for her family.’
Andy Burnham sent his condolences to Widdecombe’s family, and said: ‘Ann gave a lifetime of public service’.
Former Tory leader Boris Johnson called on the police to provide answers: ‘Sadness at the death of Ann Widdecombe now turning to anger and bewilderment at the news that she seems to have been murdered. We need the facts as fast as we can.’
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: ‘I am deeply saddened to hear of the death of Ann Widdecombe. The circumstances of her death are extremely distressing.’
Paying tribute to his ‘darling pal’ Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce said: ‘I had spoken to Widders myself only on Tuesday, seemingly the day before she died.
‘As always, she was fizzing with ideas and berating me – as she invariably did – for not having written in these pages about an issue relating to child maintenance payments, which she planned on championing at Reform’s party conference in September.
‘Her uncompromising, no-nonsense nature was why I loved her, and why I will miss all 5ft one-and-a-half inches of her (‘Don’t forget the half!’ she used to quip) more than I can say.’
SOURCE: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-15970141/ann-widdecombe-death-police-new-manhunt-murder-investigation.html