Breaking: UK police arrest 28-year-old man in Ann Widdecombe murder case

UK police say they have arrested a 28-year-old man in relation to the alleged murder of former government minister Ann Widdecombe.

The suspect is a white British national and is now in custody after being arrested in South Yorkshire, the police statement said.

In another significant update, police said they now believe Ms Widdecombe, 78, was murdered about 11:30am (local time) on Wednesday, about 24 hours before her body was found.

However, they continued to say there was no information to suggest the case was related to terrorism or had a political motive, despite the involvement of a counterterrorism policing unit in the man's arrest.

"Miss Widdecombe's family have been informed of this development," police said in a statement on Saturday evening, local time.

"This is a live and active investigation, and no further information will be issued tonight."

The announcement of the new arrest came less than 24 hours after police released a 26-year-old man they had previously detained in relation to the former MP's death.

He was released without charge and is no longer part of their investigation, police said.

Matt Longman, an assistant chief constable with Devon and Cornwall Police, said at the time officers were "working at pace on this investigation" as they pursued "a number of lines of inquiry".

He asked members of the public not to speculate about the case, saying doing so was not only potentially harmful to the police investigation, but also distressing for Ms Widdecombe's family.

Ms Widdecombe, a long-time Conservative politician turned Reform UK supporter and reality TV star, was found dead in her residence in Devon with serious injuries on Thursday.

Police announced they were conducting a murder investigation shortly afterwards.

The case has shocked Britain's political establishment, with leaders from all sides of politics calling for differences to be put aside out of respect for Ms Widdecombe and her family, and for the condemnation of political violence.

In a video statement on social media, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Ms Widdecombe's death and the subsequent murder investigation were a "terrible reflection on modern Britain".

"I do fear that for anybody in public life, or especially the political space, things have become even more dangerous today,"

he said.

Two serving British members of parliament have been murdered over the past decade.

Labour MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed by a white supremacist during the Brexit campaign in 2016, while Conservative MP David Amess was stabbed to death in 2021 by a man professing allegiance to the Islamic State militant group.