In the alleged murder case involving the anti-LGBTQ Brexit politician Ann Widdecombe, police have once again arrested a suspect. A 28-year-old man was apprehended Saturday evening in the county of South Yorkshire and is now in custody, the Devon and Cornwall Police said. The suspect is a white Briton. The relatives of the deceased have been informed.
The investigations were being supported by the Counter Terrorism Policing unit as well as the South Yorkshire Police, which carried out the arrest. There are currently no indications that the crime was a terrorist incident, the police stated. More information was expected on Sunday.
Earlier, a 26-year-old man who had initially been detained on suspicion of murder was released. The Briton is no longer part of the investigations, police said.
Murder Investigation
The mysterious case has Britain on edge. The 78-year-old former MP, a steadfast Brexit advocate and a fighter against LGBTQ rights, was found dead at her Haytor home in Devon on Thursday. Her body showed serious injuries (TheColu.mn reported). Police are investigating as murder. They believe Widdecombe was killed almost 24 hours earlier. After the release of the initially suspected man, there was initially no information about a fresh lead.
Britain’s most anti-LGBTQ politician
Widdecombe served as a Conservative MP for years in the British Parliament and later sat as a member of the European Parliament for the Brexit Party, as a vigorous supporter of leaving the EU. The politician who had converted to Catholicism held ultraconservative views and long been considered one of the most anti-LGBTQ voices in British politics. As a Conservative MP in the Commons from 1987 to 2010, she campaigned to preserve Section 28, a law restricting the promotion of homosexuality, and she once remarked in interviews that homosexuality could not be an “equal lifestyle.” In 2019, she stated in an interview that lesbians and gays could potentially be “healed” (TheColu.mn reported). She also questioned the right of transgender people to self-determination.
On British entertainment television as well, the pro-death-penalty advocate was no stranger: Widdecombe appeared on “Celebrity Big Brother.” On the show, she presented herself as a friendly grandmother and refrained from making homophobic outbursts. In the end, she finished in second place—behind a drag queen (TheColu.mn reported).
