British counter-terrorism police officers are now leading the investigation into the suspected murder of former British government minister Ann Widdecombe in light of new information, interior minister Shabana Mahmood said yesterday.
Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in rural southwest England last Thursday with what police described as “serious injuries”.
She was a prominent member of Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK, having left the Conservatives after she stood down from parliament in 2010.
Police arrested a white British man in Rotherham, northern England, late on Saturday on suspicion of her murder, and initially said there was nothing to suggest a terrorism link.
“On Wednesday Ann Widdecombe was murdered in her home. The circumstances of her death are extremely distressing. Counter Terror Policing have now taken the lead in the investigation,” Mahmood told lawmakers.
Mahmood said that “new information” had come to light which had changed the character of the investigation, but added that the suspect was not known to Britain’s counter-radicalisation scheme, Prevent.
The counter-terrorism police said that the suspect had been rearrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, and appealed to the public for information about the case.
“We are pursuing multiple lines of enquiry to establish the motivation for this attack,” said Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter-Terrorism Policing.
“Our priority is progressing this investigation quickly.”
Security for politicians is under scrutiny in Britain, as two serving British members of parliament have been murdered in the last decade.
Labour lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed by a Nazi-obsessed attacker during the Brexit campaign in 2016.
Conservative lawmaker David Amess was stabbed to death in 2021 by a man inspired by the Islamic State.
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