Police Say Pro-Life MP Anne Widdecombe Was Killed in “Targeted Attack”

Counter-terrorism police have confirmed that Ann Widdecombe, the outspoken pro-life former MP and Reform UK spokesperson, was killed in a targeted attack at her home in Devon. This comes as investigators examine possible left-wing motivation linked to her strong conservative views opposing abortion and the trans agenda. Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism […]

The post Police Say Pro-Life MP Anne Widdecombe Was Killed in “Targeted Attack” appeared first on LifeNews.com.

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Counter-terrorism police have confirmed that Ann Widdecombe, the outspoken pro-life former MP and Reform UK spokesperson, was killed in a targeted attack at her home in Devon.

This comes as investigators examine possible left-wing motivation linked to her strong conservative views opposing abortion and the trans agenda.

Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, stated that the 78-year-old former Conservative MP was the victim of a deliberate assault.

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“It is clear that this was a targeted attack,” Taylor said. “We are still working to understand the extent of any planning or preparation, and the motivation that sits behind that attack.”

Widdecombe’s body was found on July 9 with serious injuries at her rural property in Haytor Vale. Police believe the attack occurred the previous afternoon, shortly after she participated in media interviews.

A 28-year-old white British man from Rotherham was arrested on suspicion of murder on July 11 and re-arrested on suspicion of terrorism offenses. He remains in custody and continues to be questioned.

The suspect was not known to the Prevent counter-extremism program.

Detectives are probing whether left-wing or single-issue extremism played a role in the killing. Reports indicate investigators are examining possible hatred of Widdecombe’s firmly held pro-life positions and Reform UK affiliations as factors.

The suspect is described in some accounts as a lone wolf who possessed communist literature at his home, along with other politically oriented materials.

Counter-terrorism officers are also looking into whether the suspect may have intended to target additional Reform UK figures. The investigation shifted to counter-terrorism leadership after initial assessments by local police.

Widdecombe served nearly 25 years as the Conservative MP for Maidstone and later as a Brexit Party MEP before becoming a prominent voice for Reform UK. Throughout her career, she was a steadfast defender of pro-life principles, consistently speaking out against abortion and advocating for traditional values.

Parliamentary tributes following her death praised her conviction and long service as a principled campaigner. The probe remains active, with police urging the public to avoid speculation that could interfere with the inquiry into the attack on the veteran pro-life voice.

Widdecombe’s death has deeply affected Britain’s pro-life community, which is grieving the loss of one of its most recognizable and steadfast leaders.

As a patron of Right To Life UK for many years, her strong and consistent pro-life voting record serves as an example and aspiration for younger pro-life politicians entering the world of being a publicly pro-life politician, the group told LifeNews.

During her time in politics and after, she consistently voted in favour of greater protections for unborn babies and against attempts to legalise assisted suicide. As early as 1990, in a debate on the Abortion Act 1967, she argued that abortion should not be treated as any other medical intervention and that existing protections for unborn babies should not be eroded further.

In the same year, when debating amendments to the then Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, Widdecombe insisted that unborn babies not be left out of the discussion, arguing that, due to medical advances, the abortion limit should be lowered.

In another debate in the same year, Widdecombe raised concerns that an amendment to abortion legislation, allowing the Health Secretary to designate “a class of places” as suitable for abortions, would inadvertently pave the way for at-home abortions.

However, the author of the amendment, Robert Key MP, dismissed Widdecombe’s concerns and accused the then Conservative MP of speaking from “the whip issued by the pro-life group” and misleading Parliament.

The Health Secretary at the time, Kenneth Clarke, then assured MPs that the legislation was not intended to legalise home abortions and that abortions would only be “administered only in closely regulated circumstances under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner”.

Chris Whitehouse, a Right To Life UK Trustee, said: “For 40 years, Ann was to me a personal and family friend, a political mentor and a remarkable heroine of the pro-life cause. To have known her was a pleasure and a privilege, if sometimes a challenge. She was unflinching in her politics, constant in her friendships and steadfast in her defence of the principle of the right to life, both for the unborn and for those approaching the end of their lives”.

30 years later, Ann Widdecombe’s then-dismissed concerns have become a reality in the form of pills-by-post abortion, which, as of 2023, accounts for 72% of all abortions in England and Wales.

First elected as a Conservative MP for Maidstone in 1987, she held her seat until leaving the Commons in 2010, during which time she held two Ministerial positions, including Minister of State at the Home Office with responsibility for prisons and immigration. She was the only prison Minister to have personally visited every prison in England and Wales.

She returned to frontline politics in 2019 as a Member of the European Parliament until January 2020.