Widdecombe May Have Lain Dead for 24 Hours Before Discovery

Police investigating the death of former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe believe she was attacked at her Devon home on Wednesday afternoon, roughly a day before her body was found on Thursday.

Ann Widdecombe, 76, was found dead at her Devon home on Thursday.
Police are working on the assumption she was attacked the previous afternoon.
The death is being treated as suspicious.
Widdecombe served as a Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010 and later as a Brexit Party MEP.
A police investigation is ongoing; no arrests have been reported.

Devon and Cornwall Police are operating on the assumption that Ann Widdecombe was killed on Wednesday afternoon, approximately 24 hours before her body was discovered at her home in the county on Thursday, according to reporting by The Guardian.

The death is being treated as suspicious. The precise circumstances remain under active investigation. Police have not publicly named a suspect or confirmed a cause of death.

Widdecombe, 76, represented Maidstone as a Conservative MP from 1987 to 2010, serving at various points as a Home Office minister. She subsequently became a Brexit Party MEP following the 2019 European Parliament elections. She had been a recurring presence in British political commentary in the years since.

The 24-hour gap between the estimated time of death and discovery is a line of active inquiry. No further details on how the body was found, or by whom, have been confirmed by authorities at time of publication.