{"id":7865,"date":"2026-07-14T17:35:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/murder-of-uk-politician-ann-widdecombe-was-targeted-attack-police-say\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:35:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:35:43","slug":"murder-of-uk-politician-ann-widdecombe-was-targeted-attack-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/murder-of-uk-politician-ann-widdecombe-was-targeted-attack-police-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder of UK politician Ann Widdecombe was \u2018targeted attack\u2019, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Investigators are looking into what motivated the killing and how much preparation was involved.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The veteran British populist politician Ann Widdecombe, who was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/14\/what-we-know-about-uk-politician-ann-widdecombes-murder\">murdered at her home last week<\/a>, was the victim of a targeted attack, \u201ccounterterrorism\u201d police have said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is clear that this was a targeted attack. We are still working to understand the extent of \u200cany planning or preparation and the motivation that sits behind that attack,\u201d Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of counter terrorism policing, told reporters on Tuesday, five days after Widdecombe was found dead with \u201cserious injuries\u201d at her home in Devon in southwest England<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/13\/anti-terror-police-take-over-probe-into-death-of-uk-politician-widdecombe\">Anti-terror police take over probe into death of UK politician Widdecombe<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/video\/newsfeed\/2026\/7\/13\/uk-designates-irgc-as-terrorist-organisation\">UK designates IRGC as terrorist organisation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/13\/more-than-2700-deaths-in-uk-linked-to-may-june-heatwaves\">More than 2,700 deaths linked to heatwaves in UK<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Local police <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/12\/british-police-make-new-arrest-in-ann-widdecombe-murder-investigation\">arrested a white British man<\/a> late on Saturday on suspicion of her murder. Counter terrorism \u2060police officers, who <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/13\/anti-terror-police-take-over-probe-into-death-of-uk-politician-widdecombe\">took over the investigation<\/a> \u2060on Monday, have since rearrested him on \u201csuspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"complex-investigation\">\u2018Complex investigation\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Taylor did not give specific details on the attacker\u2019s motive, saying only that \u201cit is a complex investigation\u201d and that it would be wrong for him to \u201ctry and ascribe either an \u200cideology or what that motivation might be at this stage\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cterrorism\u201d investigation was running in parallel to the investigation into Widdecombe\u2019s murder, Taylor added.<\/p>\n<p>Widdecombe, 78, had been a \u2060prominent member of Nigel Farage\u2019s right-wing Reform UK, serving as its immigration and justice spokesperson until her death. Earlier in her career \u2013 from 1987 to 2010 \u2013 she served as the Conservative MP for Maidstone and held government positions, including shadow home secretary in 1999. She later became a TV personality, featuring on shows including Big Brother and Strictly Come Dancing.<\/p>\n<p>She was known for her stance against abortion and against equalising the age of consent for gay and heterosexual relationships.<\/p>\n<p>After police initially said there was nothing to suggest a \u201cterrorism link\u201d in Widdecombe\u2019s murder, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said on Monday that \u201cnew information\u201d had come to light that had changed the character of the investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Mahmood said the suspect was not known to the country\u2019s \u201ccounterterrorism programme\u201d, Prevent, and appealed to the public to come forward with any relevant information.<\/p>\n<p>Widdecombe\u2019s case has amplified concerns about the security of politicians in the UK. Two serving British members \u200cof Parliament \u200chave been murdered in the last decade.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016, Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed by a Nazi-obsessed attacker during the Brexit campaign. In 2021, Conservative lawmaker David Amess was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2021\/10\/15\/uk-mp-david-amess-stabbed-at-local-office\">stabbed to death<\/a> by a man who was inspired by the ISIL (ISIS) group.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investigators are looking into what motivated the killing and how much preparation was involved. The veteran British populist politician Ann Widdecombe, who was murdered at her home last week, was the victim of a targeted attack, \u201ccounterterrorism\u201d police have said. \u201cIt is clear that this was a targeted attack. We are still working to understand &#8230; <a title=\"Murder of UK politician Ann Widdecombe was \u2018targeted attack\u2019, police say\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/14\/murder-of-uk-politician-ann-widdecombe-was-targeted-attack-police-say\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Murder of UK politician Ann Widdecombe was \u2018targeted attack\u2019, police say\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}