British police now acknowledge that Ann Widdecombe was killed intentionally, but they are for the time being not willing to say what motive the killer may have had. This is a complete reversal from what the police originally said. They then dismissed the possibility that she had been killed for her political opinions and asked the public to refrain from speculating on a connection between politics and murder.
They had to eat those words on Tuesday.
The police in Devon and Cornwall spent the weekend asking the public not to speculate on the motive, before they on Monday announced that the suspect had been re-arrested, suspected of having committed, prepared or instigated terrorist acts.
At a press conference on Tuesday afternoon Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism police, also said that his officers had been granted seven days to question the suspect.
He said: «It is clear that this was a targeted attack. We are still working to understand the extent of any planning or preparation, and the motive behind the attack.
We have carried out extensive searches at an address in Rotherham, and the crime scene remains cordoned off while this activity is ongoing.»
British police are in deep crisis. This is just the latest in a series of catastrophic investigations.
The police in Devon and Cornwall are under criticism for their handling of the murder case against Ann Widdecombe after the case was declared a terror investigation.
The police had repeatedly insisted that nothing indicated that the crime was politically motivated or linked to terrorism, in a series of public statements given after the news of her death on Friday.
But on Monday around lunchtime the head of Britain’s counter-terrorism police announced that they had taken over the investigation after “new information or new evidence” had been discovered.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/14/widdecombe-terror-police-seven-more-days-question-suspect/