A man held over the murder of Reform UK immigration and justice spokesman Ann Widdecombe at her home has been re-arrested under terror laws, and the investigation has been taken over by counter terrorism police.
Counter terror police have now taken over the investigation into the death of veteran lawmaker Ann Widdecombe, who was found dead at her home last week. An unnamed 28-year-old “white British national” male arrested on Saturday evening has been formally re-arrested, following his earlier arrest on suspicion of murder, on further suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Counter Terror Policing South East stated — after a weekend of the local Devon and Cornwall force repeatedly telling media and the public not to speculate and that they had not yet seen evidence of a political or terrorism motive, prompting a wall of legacy media reports emphasising this point — that “new information and evidence has come to light”.
Laurence Taylor, the head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said: “Building on the progress made by our colleagues in Devon and Cornwall Police, we now have new information and evidence that means Counter Terrorism Policing is now leading the investigation”. The officer added that despite the terrorism arrest, police were still “pursuing multiple lines of enquiry to establish the motivation for this attack.”
The Home Secretary (Interior Minister) Shabana Mahmood added: “This morning I have spoken to the head of [Counter Terrorism Police]. Following new information and evidence, they are now leading on the investigation into the horrific murder of Ann Widdecombe.”
Mahmood continued “The police are pursuing multiple lines of enquiry to establish the motivation for this attack” and said she would update the House of Commons this afternoon with more information.
It is not immediately clear why the investigation has been taken over by Counter Terror Policing South East, when the South West of England, where the crime took place, has its own Counter Terrorism Policing body. In the case of being overwhelmed — Britain’s south west has never been considered a hotbed of radical terrorism, and the unit does not appear to be well developed — Britain’s senior and most experienced counter-terror unit is London’s SO15 Counter Terrorism Command.
The announcement that the death of forthright social conservative Ann Widdecombe, a former long serving Member of Parliament, government minister, Member of the European Parliament, and most recently immigration and justice spokesman for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is now being treated as a potential terror attack follows heavy criticism against Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage for suggesting his friend and colleague might have been the victim of “premeditated murder”.
Reform Member of Parliament Richard Tice responded to a report in The Times, taking on Farage for discussing the death of his one-time fellow Member of the European Parliament, and stated on Monday morning: “You are sick. Your contempt bordering on hatred of Nigel, myself [and] Reform means you stoop to any low to smear & discredit us. You lie, libel and make things up.”
Reform supporting academic and sometimes candidate for the party, Matt Goodwin, noted there was never before any social taboo on acknowledging the political implications of the murder of politicians, but that one was being invented now to shut up Reform. He said: “Imagine if somebody had said Labour MPs were using the murder of Jo Cox for ‘propaganda’. Then why say it about Nigel Farage? Nigel knew Ann. He respected Ann. And they were incredibly good friends.”
These latest developments also follow a newspaper revealing footage of the suspect carrying a “wooden baton” the morning of the alleged killing.
The 28-year-old “white British national” arrested at his home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Saturday evening was filmed by a security camera on a neighbouring property getting into his car while carrying a “foot-long stick”, “wooden baton”, or “iron bar” hours before the alleged murderous attack on Ann Widdecombe took place last Wednesday.
British tabloid newspaper The Sun published footage, which it said showed the suspect getting into a red hatchback outside his former council house (sold-off social housing) with an item tucked into his shorts. The report describes the tool or object as a “wooden baton”, while The Times cites a neighbour of the accused describing the “foot-long stick” as “a wooden stick or an iron bar, about a foot long, and it was pushing up underneath his T-shirt as he got into the car.”
Allegedly, having got into the car — which neighbours describe as otherwise having stood stationary for so long it was rusting and had weeds growing out of it — at around 0800 Wednesday morning, the suspect is said to have driven 265 miles south to Devonshire. Police believe Widdecombe was killed around 1230 on Wednesday afternoon, having suffered serious head injuries.
Widdecombe was discovered at her deceased home on Thursday morning, and her death — without context — was announced on Friday morning. Only hours later on Friday did police announce they had launched a murder investigation.
The suspect currently in police custody is the second arrest made during the course of the investigation. The first, arrested just hours after the investigation began, was later released without charge and was found to be unrelated to the incident. The manhunt recommenced at that point and led to the second arrest of a 28-year-old man in Yorkshire the following day.
As earlier reported:
…dedicated Christian Ann Widdecombe first emerged in British politics in the 1980s when she co-founded and led Women and Families for Defence. Intended to push back against left-wing pressure groups campaigning against nuclear weapons, Widdecombe then went on to be elected to Parliament as a Conservative under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and later served as a government minister.
Widdecombe was a staunch Brexiteer and known for her uncompromising socially conservative views including on homosexuality, abortion, ‘assisted suicide’, and the death penalty. She left the Conservative Party after the modernising, centrist era of Prime Minister David Cameron and joined Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, serving as a Member of the European Parliament alongside Farage in Britain’s final year of membership of the bloc.
Moving on from the Brexit Party to Reform UK, Widdecombe was appointed justice and immigration spokesman for the Farage-led party.
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