Craig Revel Horwood has revealed the details of his final conversation with Ann Widdecombe, which took place just six days before she was killed at her home in Devon in July.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge said he had been asked by the former Conservative MP to appear as a guest speaker at one of her charity events, a commitment he says he will now fulfil in her memory.
Final exchange revealed
Speaking to the Mirror, Horwood described the last message he received from Widdecombe, who died aged 78 after being struck over the head with a hammer 21 times at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor.
“I literally spoke to her six days before she died, because she asked me to do a charity gig for her because she couldn’t make it, and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s absolutely fine’,” he told the paper.
“It’s coming up in October. She wanted me to be a guest speaker at one of her charities, and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s absolutely fine, darling. And the last thing she literally wrote was ‘yippee’ in lowercase letters, then capital Y, ‘Yippee,’ and then the last YIPPEE!!! was all in capital letters with three exclamation marks.
“And that was the last I ever heard from her. It was so tragic, the whole thing, but of course I’ll fulfil that commitment. I’ll dedicate it to Ann as well.”
Friendship beyond Strictly
Widdecombe competed on season eight of the BBC series in 2010, partnered with Anton Du Beke, now a judge on the show. Despite Horwood labelling one of her performances a “disaster”, the pair became close friends.
Horwood added: “She was an amazing human being, and she was brave; brave enough to come on Strictly and give me what for.
“And then we ended up working together really closely for three years after and became good friends, and we’re still in contact, to this day. Well, we were in contact to this very day. It’s such a terrible thing that happened.”
Murder charge and funeral
Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was charged with Widdecombe’s murder on July 20. Around 100 family, friends and colleagues attended her funeral at Buckfast Abbey in Devon last month.
