Police: speculation during Widdecombe murder investigation is ‘unhelpful and distressing’

Police said there was ‘nothing to suggest’ the murder of Ann Widdecombe was an act of terrorism, after Nigel Farage said her death was ‘premeditated’. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP View image in fullscreen Police said there was ‘nothing to suggest’ the murder of Ann Widdecombe was an act of terrorism, after Nigel Farage said her death was ‘premeditated’. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP Police: speculation during Widdecombe murder investigation is ‘unhelpful and distressing’ Politicians should not comment before facts are established, says former chief constable, after Farage describes killing as ‘premeditated murder’ Senior police figures and politicians have warned against speculation during the murder investigation into Ann Widdecombe’s death, after detectives said there was “nothing to suggest” political motivation after an intervention from Nigel Farage. Devon and Cornwall police said on Sunday the killing investigation was not being treated as terrorism nor as politically motivated. Officers said they remained open-minded about the motive and urged the public not to speculate, warning it was both unhelpful to the investigation and distressing for Widdecombe’s family. Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister and later Reform UK spokesperson, was found dead at her home in Haytor in Devon on Thursday having sustained serious injuries. Police said she may have been dead for more than 24 hours before her body was discovered. Farage visited the area around Widdecombe’s Devon home shortly after her death. On Saturday, the Reform UK leader told journalists her death appeared to be “premeditated murder”. He also argued the case demonstrated that for “people now in public life, especially in politics, the world is very much more dangerous than it’s ever been, whatever the outcome of the motives of the killer”. View image in fullscreen A police officer walks past floral tributes left outside the home of Ann Widdecombe. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Reuters Police said a 28-year-old man arrested in Rotherham on suspicion of murder remained in custody. Officers said they were not looking for anyone else in connection to the investigation and there was no evidence to suggest any wider threat to the public. Politicians from across the political spectrum have urged greater restraint, with one Labour minister saying that public statements “rarely help the police during an investigation”, while the former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke said people in public life “should know better than to speculate publicly”. Sir Peter Fahy, the former chief constable of Greater Manchester police, said there had been a “very noticeable trend” for politicians, including government ministers, to comment on police incidents and murder investigations while they were still unfolding. “It really does completely misunderstand and neglect the nature of a murder investigation,” Fahy told the Guardian. “Often at the start it is a bit of a voyage of discovery. You’ve go