{"id":5536,"date":"2026-07-14T03:18:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=5536"},"modified":"2026-07-14T03:18:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:18:07","slug":"british-counter-terrorism-police-take-over-probe-into-slain-ex-mp-widdecombe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=5536","title":{"rendered":"British counter-terrorism police take over probe into slain ex-MP Widdecombe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/3001783972613\/2026\/upi_com\/5b2652fbcf67ebd69e67d4972b3a5f8a\/v1.5\/British-counter-terrorism-police-take-over-Widdecombe-investigation.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>British officials say the suspect in the death of former lawmaker Ann Widdecombe was not known to anti-terrorism agents as the counter terrorism police have taken over the investigation Monday. File Photo by Vickie Flores\/EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">July 13 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> British officials said the suspect in the death of former lawmaker Ann Widdecombe was not known to anti-terrorism agents as the counter-terrorism police took over the investigation Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said while speaking from the House of Commons that a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/articles\/c0mydjl12mwo\" target=\"_blank\">28-year-old<\/a> British man from South Yorkshire was taken back into custody on suspicion of acts of terrorism and murder. The man was not on the radar of Prevent, Britain&#8217;s counter-terrorism agency.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The police are pursuing multiple lines of enquiry to establish the motivation for this attack,&#8221; Mahmood said.<\/p>\n<p>Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in Haytor in the county of Devon on Wednesday. Investigators said she had sustained serious injuries. Police believe Widdecombe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/07\/13\/uk\/ann-widdecombe-killing-uk-counterterror-police-intl\" target=\"_blank\">died a day before<\/a> her body was discovered. She was a spokeswoman for Reform UK and served in parliament.<\/p>\n<p>Laurence Taylor, head of National Counter Terrorism Policing, said investigators were working on establishing a motive for the attack.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our priority is progressing this investigation quickly, with all capabilities we have available to us,&#8221; Taylor said. &#8220;If anyone has any information, please share it with the police.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Counter Terrorism Policing South East said there was new information in the case.\n<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The man in custody has since been re-arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism,&#8221; Counter Terrorism Policing said in a statement. &#8220;New information and evidence has come to light during what has been a dynamic and complex investigation and as a result, Counter Terrorism Policing South East is now leading the investigation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Counter Terrorism Policing added that it has been working alongside local law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>British officials say the suspect in the death of former lawmaker Ann Widdecombe was not known to anti-terrorism agents as the counter terrorism police have taken over the investigation Monday. File Photo by Vickie Flores\/EPA July 13 (UPI) &#8212; British officials said the suspect in the death of former lawmaker Ann Widdecombe was not known&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/3001783972613\/2026\/1\/5b2652fbcf67ebd69e67d4972b3a5f8a\/v1.5\/British-counter-terrorism-police-take-over-Widdecombe-investigation.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}