Ann Widdecombe’s murder suspect ‘not known’ to Prevent scheme, says home secretary
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told MPs that the suspect in Ann Widdecombe’s murder was “not recognized” by the Countering Extremism programme.
Ms Mahmood was updating parliament just hours after counter-terrorism police said they were investigating the death of the former Conservative minister.
A 28-year-old white British man is being held on suspicion of murdering the senior politician and has also been re-arrested on suspicion of carrying out, preparing or instigating acts of terrorism.
Ms Mahmood told MPs that officers were “pursuing multiple lines of inquiry to establish the motivation for this attack” and that the suspect was not recognized by the government’s counter-extremism scheme Prevent.
He also called on lawmakers not to speculate while the investigation is ongoing.
“This will be done as soon as more information becomes available that can be shared without compromising any future prosecution,” he said.
Reform’s Richard Tice attacked the police as he asked the home secretary to ensure “the counter-terrorism unit keeps us updated as regularly as possible”.
He added: “Given the nature of these things…given the motivation…would it be wise to keep things open-ended that can be decided upon again later, rather than dismissing things too quickly?”
At the weekend, Devon and Cornwall police said the incident was “not being treated as terrorism” and that there was “no information” at the time that it was a “politically motivated crime”.
Earlier, Ms Mahmood offered Reform leader Nigel Farage a meeting with the head of the independent body within the Home Office that oversees the safety of people involved in public life after another senior Reform figure, Zia Yousuf, accused ministers, the Speaker and the police of not caring about the safety of his party’s MPs.
Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said MPs’ security concerns had been addressed equally and “passed to security officials for their attention”.
He told MPs: “For me every member of parliament is equal; there is no difference between any member, I want to reassure you.
“When the events are brought to my attention – because we do not discuss security, I do not reveal what happened, what was done – but when this is brought to my attention, I am assured that the matter will be passed on to the security officials.
“Unfortunately, I’m sorry that people don’t think I did that.”
Earlier, National Counter-Terrorism Police (CTP) chief Laurence Taylor said the investigation had been handed over after “new information and evidence” emerged.
“Our priority is to progress this investigation quickly with all the means at our disposal. If anyone has any information, please share it with the police,” he added.
“We thank local communities, the public and the media for their ongoing support and patience and ask that they continue to support us through the next phase of the investigation.”
