Police release suspect in death of former minister Ann Widdecombe

Police have released a 26-year-old white British man arrested in the death investigation of former minister Ann Widdecombe, saying he is no longer part of the case. The move does not end the inquiry, but it does signal that detectives no longer believe they have enough evidence to keep him at the center of a murder probe that has shaken British politics.

Devon and Cornwall Police said officers were called to Widdecombe’s home in Haytor, Devon, by ambulance crews at about 11:40 a.m. on Thursday, July 9, after she was found dead with serious injuries. Investigators now believe the attack happened around 11:30 GMT on Wednesday, July 8, a timing that suggests the scene may have remained undisturbed for many hours before the discovery.

The arrest initially focused attention on Newton Abbot, about 9 miles from Haytor, where police detained the suspect that afternoon. In a July 11 update, officers said he had been released and was no longer part of the investigation. In Britain, an arrest gives police the power to question a suspect and test evidence, but continued detention depends on whether detectives can justify holding that person as the inquiry develops. Release at this stage means the case continues, not that the death has been solved.

Police have said they do not believe the killing was linked to terrorism or a political motive, and they have said there is no evidence of any wider risk to the public. Counter Terrorism Policing was consulted early in the inquiry, but it is not supporting the investigation, underscoring police judgment that this was being treated as a targeted death rather than part of a broader security threat.

The case has drawn intense political reaction because Widdecombe was one of the most recognizable and polarizing figures on the Conservative right. She served as Conservative MP for Maidstone from 1987 to 2010 and as prisons minister under John Major from 1995 to 1997, before later becoming a Reform UK figure after standing for the Brexit Party in 2019. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the country would be “utterly shocked” and urged people to “rise above the political divide,” while Nigel Farage said Widdecombe’s death showed politics in Britain had become more dangerous. As detectives continue to seek information from the public, the inquiry is still trying to reconstruct exactly what happened inside the Haytor home and who, if anyone, should now remain under suspicion.