Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative minister who later became a Reform UK spokesperson, was found dead with serious injuries at her home in Haytor, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon, and police launched a murder inquiry. A 28-year-old white British man was subsequently arrested in South Yorkshire on suspicion of her murder and taken into custody. The death of such a prominent public figure — whose career spanned Parliament, Brussels and reality television — prompted an outpouring of tributes from across the political spectrum.

Widdecombe, 78, was discovered at 11:40 BST on the Thursday, though police believe she had been attacked almost 24 hours earlier. The 28-year-old suspect was detained at an address in South Yorkshire, roughly 270 miles (430km) from her Devon home, in an operation carried out by South Yorkshire Police and Counter Terrorism Policing North East on behalf of Devon and Cornwall Police, which retained control of the investigation. A 26-year-old man arrested earlier in nearby Newton Abbot was released and ruled out of the inquiry. Counter-terrorism officers were initially involved but found no evidence of a politically motivated crime, and police declined to release suspect descriptions or CCTV to avoid prejudicing their enquiries. Figures including Nigel Farage, Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch paid tribute, and floral tributes were left near her home.