Police investigating death of Ann Widdicombe

[GoodHonest]

Very strange

And many of them are on Mumsnet, showing their collective arse every single day.

Keep talking…

This just to be clear, Heather Herbert posted this on Bluesky not X. You know the place that the be kind people went to because X/Twitter is a cesspit.

They've arrested a 26 year old male.

Why such a smart alec attitude? Time moves on

Wrong! They’ve arrested someone in connection with her death! It’s on Dky News and other more reputable outlets than the DM!

And now you’re the fool for not reading that posters updates!!Sorry to piss on your chips.

'I respect genuine religious conviction - on which a lot of her views were predicated '

• not sure about this. More generally than specifically Widdecombe, a lot of bad things have been done by people due to genuine religious conviction. Was Queen Mary I burning Protestants less bad because it was from genuine religious conviction that she was saving their souls?

On Anne Widdecombe specifically, I definitely agree that she had good qualities. I would say re the royals, that I'm a Republican but don't they have a different job? They can't by definition be outspoken the way an MP can, so if course they seem like cardboard cutouts.

On this though: 'nor do they deserve the kind of ridicule she got in life, to which she responded with such grace'

• not sure about this either. Widdecombe was ridiculed but so were, and are, many politicians. Arguably being a politician comes with that caveat.

It could be said she was treated unfairly due to her sex but Widdecombe herself rejected that. Sophy Ridge's book The Women Who Shaped Politics is excellent and in it, Widdecombe says that she wasn't mocked any more than male colleagues like Ken Clarke and that 'somehow we only focus when a woman's getting it', although maybe she was just being stoic.

It's also arguable that Widdecombe contributed to the ridicule herself by playing up her eccentric image on Strictly, and similar.

It could be the usual, local addict (alcohol or otherwise), known to her, demanding money with menaces.

Terribly sad. I didn't always agree with her but I admired her honesty and spirit.

An MP being interviewed on the radio just said that she was blungoned to death. That is awful enough. I do hope there was no sexual violence. She must have been terrified.

I very much doubt he knew that for sure and that’s the kind of distasteful comment that is unnecessary at this stage ( his not yours!)

Probably true though as head wound and a lot of blood has been widely reported

I have already explained my response to this upthread.

I'm sorry, I hadn't looked at page 8 yet. Thank you.

Whatever her views were, it's disgusting people are gloating over an elderly woman being murdered in her own home. I didn't read her column but did see her when I bought the Daily Express and it seems surreally terrifying that this has suddenly happened.

I wonder if she had been offered a bodyguard/protection? I can imagine she might have refused from stoicism though.

I feel quite sad about her death now. She was harmless enough and a good sport appearing on Strictly.

Yes, she took some very strong positions on women that I disagreed with. I remember during the Ched Evans case she defended the use of the victim's sexual history. Otoh she was a devoted champion of animal rights...she could be very hard but also compassionate. She equalised the state pension age, and she was very hurt by the myth (which people are repeating now!) that she shackled female prisoners while in labour.

It's interesting also that despite her stress on traditionalism, she was quite open about enjoying the pros of the (arguably non-traditional) life she had without a husband (or children, though she regretted this) and focused on energetic debate in the House if Commons.

I wouldn't say Widdecombe was necessarily harmless. She was astute to play up the eccentric image in Strictly but that didn't negate the fact she remained an active politician supporting a lot of things I thought were harmful through her career (though of course you may disagree).

But that's immaterial to her brutal murder. No one deserves to be murdered, and the circumstances are particularly awful. I'm a carer for an elderly person & I just thank my stars that I am able to be there with them. Widdecombe probably relished her independence as she had a right to, but I wish she had had some protection with her in the house....

I think he forgot himself and let his guard down. To be fair a couple of other friends of hers said the similar. They said they'd been told how she was found and the state of her body. For all we know, the autopsy has already been completed but I take your point.

That's what I predominantly remember Widdicombe for, saying it was appropriate for women to be transported in handcuffs and shackles, while needing labour/antenatal care. Also being put back in handcuffs, straight after birth. 10 women, non had violent offences, had escaped while attending all hospital visits, over 10 years. Around one violent man, for some reason wasn't handcuffed and managed to escape, weekly. She refused to allow midwives/antenatal care to go into prisons, even though birth charities were begging for it. She was gleefully in interviews about it. Very much had the punishment attitude that mirrored the laundries/mother and baby homes. Your description of truly vicious and warped was most apt.

Not read beyond the comment I'm replying to btw, but maybe your image submissions don't get through because of your username

For a start, who would want to lie down on the floor of a woman's toilet at an airport. Did he/she put a blanket down first?

It's a he. Definitely a he and will always be a he.

I hadn't realised the full extent of this

If that's what she did, that was callous, no other word for it.

Odd in the light if her religious convictions too, arguably. Catholicism does have a punitive side in some manifestations but plenty of schools of thought within it would be opposed to treating pregnant women that way. Odd for a woman who claimed to support the traditional role of women- you'd think compassion to mothers in about to give birth would be part of that.

Still, whatever she did doesn't mean she deserved the brutal murder (I know you weren't saying that but it's worth reinforcing given the kind of comments on some of SM)

Didn’t look like there was a blanket. Yes, my first thought was that he might be lying in wee if he was in a cubicle. Followed by how was there enough room to lie down in a cubicle. Then worried that he lay full,stretch by the sinks with a dilator/vibrator up an orifice while taking selfies.