Second man arrested over Ann Widdecombe killing after nationwide hunt

A 28-year-old man has been arrested in South Yorkshire following the death of the former MP and Strictly dancer Ann Widdecombe.

Widdecombe, 78, was discovered dead inside her remote Dartmoor home on Thursday after concern was raised when she stopped answering text messages and didn’t join a scheduled interview.

The ex-Tory minister’s body was found in her kitchen in a pool of blood by carers.

Now the police have arrested a man, 28, at an address in South Yorkshire, who was taken into custody yesterday evening on suspicion of murder.

He is a white British national, Devon and Cornwall Police said.

The force said: ‘Miss Widdecombe’s family have been informed of this development.

‘We were supported by Counter Terrorism Policing North East and South Yorkshire Police who carried out the arrest on behalf of Devon & Cornwall Police.At this time, there is still no information to suggest that this is a terrorism related incident and as a force we retain primacy of the investigation.’

Yesterday, a 26-year-old man who was previously arrested over the death was released from custody.

He is no longer part of the investigation, police confirmed.

Widdecombe was scheduled to appear on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show on Wednesday at 1pm.

That morning, she had already been interviewed on TalkTV about the upcoming Clacton by-election.

Messages reveal Widdecombe and a producer exchanged WhatsApp texts on Wednesday for five minutes from 12.14pm.

She was sent a Zoom link allowing her to join the call, which Widdecombe eventually confirmed having received after technical issues.

But when she was asked to join the call at 12.48pm, the text was no longer opened.

A producer then tried to call her, but the call went unanswered, prompting them to ask her in another message ‘Hi Ann is everything okay?’ before two more call attempts.

The team raised concerns over Widdecombe’s uncharacteristic lack of response, who was a show regular, contacting her agent on Wednesday and again on Thursday.

Tributes have been pouring in following Widdecombe’s sudden death.

Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage laid flowers near her house on Saturday morning and said he was shocked that somebody committed ‘this act of barbarity against an innocent 78-year-old lady who wouldn’t harm a fly.’