Police treat Anne Widdecombe death as murder, man arrested in Devon

Police are treating the death of Ann Widdecombe as murder after a 26-year-old white British man was arrested in Newton Abbot on Friday afternoon. Devon and Cornwall Police said the case is not being treated as a terrorist incident, and Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said there was no information at that stage suggesting a political motive.

Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor after officers were called to the property on Thursday, July 9, 2026. Her management announced her death on Friday morning, and police later confirmed the investigation had shifted to homicide. The man arrested in Newton Abbot remained in custody as detectives continued their inquiries.

The reaction moved quickly beyond politics, reflecting the unusual range of Widdecombe’s public life. Kemi Badenoch said the Conservative Party was "reeling" after the news, while Sir Keir Starmer was among the political figures paying tribute. Widdecombe spent 23 years as the Conservative MP for Maidstone, from 1987 to 2010, and served in John Major’s government before later breaking with the party line and standing for the Brexit Party and then Reform UK.

Her television career also drew a strong response. Anton du Beke, who partnered Widdecombe on Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, said he was "devastated" and called it the "saddest of news" in a tribute on Instagram to his former dance partner and "real friend". Widdecombe and du Beke reached week nine of the competition, the quarter-finals, giving her a public profile that extended well beyond Westminster and into mainstream entertainment.

The breadth of those reactions has placed Widdecombe’s political and television careers in sharp relief at the same time as detectives pursue a murder inquiry in Devon. For Conservatives, Brexit supporters and Strictly Come Dancing viewers alike, the response has been immediate and unusually wide, but police have made clear that the investigation remains separate from the tributes now being shared.