Ann Widdecombe: 5 questions that police haven’t given answers to | UK | News
A coroner outside Ann Widdecombe’s home in Devon (Image: Getty)
The political world was rocked this week by the death of much-admired political titan Ann Widdecombe, who was found dead in her home, prompting a police murder investigation. It was revealed that 78-year-old Ann, who lived alone in her remote bungalow in Dartmoor, Devon, was found bleeding in the kitchen after suffering a serious head injury.
A 26-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murdering a former Conservative MP and Brexit Party MP has been released from custody and is no longer part of the investigation, Devon and Cornwall Police said.
The former Tory prisons minister was found dead at his home in Haytor, Dartmoor, on Thursday (July 9). Ms Widdecombe was most recently the Reform UK spokesperson.
He also rose to fame outside of politics after appearing in Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother. On Saturday, Devon and Cornwall Police confirmed the man had been released from custody following his arrest on Friday.
The suspect’s release means the police investigation can be restored and here we take a look at five key questions that appear to remain unanswered.
Ann Widdecombe is at home. He was found dead on Thursday (Image: Shutterstock)
Did the attacker have CCTV?
Photos of Ms Widdecombe’s property appear to have her own a doorbell camera device and it is likely that, as a former MP and prisons minister, she was advised to install CCTV around the property.
Police have not yet released any images of the suspect from the footage taken at home, but they said they were looking for a “white male.” The fact that they knew their suspect was white shows that they had CCTV evidence.
HAVE THEY CONFIRMED THAT ANN DID NOT DIE BY AN ACCIDENT?
Ann was a 78-year-old woman, and although she had no reported health problems, you can assume that the police were confident they could rule out the possibility that she died as a result of a fall or other accident.
One reported theory is that he may have died as a result of a burglary gone wrong, although police have not officially commented on the matter.
Ann was last seen live on TalkTV on Wednesday morning (Image: TalkTV)
DO WE KNOW WHERE THE GUN CAUSED THEIR INJURIES?
Despite reports that Ann was covered in blood and suffered serious head injuries, police have not released details of any items or weapons that may have been used in the attack.
It is clear that forensic pathologists are working to determine exactly how Ann died.
HAS ANN RECEIVED ANY THREATS LATELY?
It is unknown whether Ann has reported any recent threats to the police. As an outspoken supporter of Reform UK and former prisons minister, the idea that an attacker had a reason to attack him was probably not overlooked by detectives. He explained that he had received death threats in the past and that this was a sad reality for politicians.
Reform England leader Nigel Farage recently said he will need security for the rest of his life because of the threats he has received for years.
However, police said they did not believe Ann’s murder was politically motivated.
Perhaps the most important detail the police need to work on is being able to isolate when an attacker could be captured from any CCTV.
Ann will reportedly appear on the Matt Allwright show on Channel 5 on Wednesday, July 8 at 1pm. Ann was last seen alive in a remote interview on Talk TV at around 8am the same day.
Before Ann’s scheduled appearance on Channel 5, a researcher had been chatting with her in writing about the details of the programme. The last message from Ann was received at 12.19pm, but the researcher did not receive a response when she sent a message to Ann asking her to join the Zoom connection at 12.48pm.
The minutes between these two exchanges could be crucial to the police investigation if Ann was the one sending all the messages.
