Reform UK’s Ann Widdecombe murdered in targeted attack, police say

British ⁠counterterrorism police said on Tuesday that ⁠former government minister Ann Widdecombe, who was found murdered at her home last week, was clearly targeted, adding that officers were still working to establish the motive.

“It is clear that this was a targeted attack. We are still working ‌to understand the extent of any planning or preparation and the motivation that sits behind that attack,” Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of Britain’s counterterrorism policing, told reporters.

Taylor declined to comment on the attacker’s motive, saying: “It is a complex investigation. It would be wrong for me to try and ascribe either an ideology (to the ⁠attacker) or what that motivation might be at this stage.”

Local police arrested a white British man ‌late on Saturday on suspicion of her murder. Counterterrorism officers, who took over the investigation on Monday, have since rearrested him on suspicion of the ‌commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

Taylor said the terrorism investigation was ⁠running in parallel to ⁠the investigation into Widdecombe’s murder.

Widdecombe, 78, who was a prominent member of Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK, was ‌found dead at her home in rural southwest England last Thursday with what police described as “serious injuries”. She stood ‌down from ‌parliament in 2010.