A second man has been arrested by police investigating the ‘murder’ of Ann Widdecombe at her home in Dartmoor.
The former MP and MEP was found dead by her gardener at her cottage in Haytor, Devon on Thursday morning.
Officers detained a 28-year-old man in South Yorkshire on Saturday evening. He remains in custody.
Detectives believe Miss Widdecombe was attacked at around 12.30pm on Wednesday, just half an hour before she was due to appear on TV.
The body of the 78-year-old Reform politician was found in a pool of blood in her kitchen a little less than 24 hours later. An ambulance crew alerted police at 11:40pm.
Ann Widdecombe was found dead in the kitchen of her remote bungalow in Dartmoor yesterday
A statement released by Devon and Cornwall Police said: ‘We can confirm that a 28-year-old man was arrested at an address in the South Yorkshire area this evening (July 11) on suspicion of the murder of Ann Widdecombe.
‘The suspect, who is a white British national, is now in police custody.
‘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.’
A 26-year-old white British man who was arrested on Friday was released from custody on Friday morning and is no longer part of the investigation.
Detectives said earlier the case is ‘moving at significant pace’ and ‘our priority remains identifying those responsible’ for Miss Widdecombe’s death.
They are not expected to release any more information about the newly arrested suspect tonight.
It comes after new details emerged about Miss Widdecombe’s final hours, as it was revealed the alarm was raised after she failed to appear on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show at 1pm on Wednesday.
She was last seen in an interview on Talk TV at around 8am the same day.
A researcher on the Channel 5 show had spoken to Miss Widdecombe on the phone earlier in the afternoon to set up the interview.
After the call, the researcher exchanged messages with Miss Widdecombe, with her last message received at 12.19pm.
The researcher then messaged again at 12.48pm requesting that Miss Widdecombe join the Zoom link in preparation for the remote interview, but she did not reply.
Subsequent voice calls and messages asking if everything was alright went unanswered. Concerns were raised by the show’s research team about the uncharacteristic lack of response from Ms Widdecombe, who was a regular on the show.
They contacted her agent later on Wednesday and followed up again on Thursday.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman provided an update on the force’s investigation earlier today, saying: ‘Our priority remains identifying those responsible and ensuring that all available evidence is thoroughly examined.
‘Detectives continue to carry out numerous inquiries as part of the ongoing investigation and we remain committed to establishing the full circumstances surrounding the incident.’
He said the investigation was ‘moving at a significant pace’, adding: ‘We are deploying all of the necessary resources to find out exactly what has happened.
‘I would appeal to anyone who may have information about this incident, however insignificant it may seem, to come forward and speak with us.
‘We will release further information when we are able to do so. In the meantime, I would ask people not to speculate about what might have happened, particularly on social media.
‘This is not only potentially harmful to our investigation but also deeply distressing for family and friends of Ms Widdecombe. The family have also asked for their privacy to be respected as they come to terms with what has happened.
‘We have set up a major incident public portal for information, images or footage to be submitted to us. This can be found on our website.
‘Information can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers.’
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.

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