Jeremy Vine struggled to hold back tears when speaking about the death of Ann Widdecombe on his Channel 5 programme. The former Conservative minister and later Reform UK spokeswoman, 78, was found dead at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor at about 11.40am on Thursday after sustaining serious injuries.
Emotional Tribute on The Jeremy Vine Show
During Monday's episode of The Jeremy Vine Show, the TV presenter was joined by broadcaster Iain Dale, who was also a good friend of Miss Widdecombe. Speaking on the Channel 5 programme, he told Vine: “Can I just say one more thing in that, I think you know that she loved your programme. She loved coming on it, she loved your viewers and she loved you. You were part of her family, and she really spoke very highly of you, and I know you went out of your way to be kind to her.”
The camera then cut to Jeremy, who was seen fighting back tears before saying: “Well, that’s too much to hear today. Thank you very much, Iain. Thank you so much.”
Vine's Opening Remarks
When opening the show, Vine also addressed the news of the former politician's death. “Since we last spoke on Friday, we’ve heard that Ann Widdicombe, our friend and guest on more than 100 occasions, was murdered. We’ve had the weekend to think about this horrifying news,” he said. “It was bad enough to know we would never see her face her again, never hear her voice again, but to know that her life was taken in an act of violence is almost too much and we are thinking of all her family and friends as this horrible, horrible series of events plays out.”
Tribute on Instagram
After news of Miss Widdicombe's death broke, Vine shared a tribute on Instagram, which read: “Today, we woke up to the sad news that Ann Widdecombe has passed away aged 78. She was a friend of the programme, a regular panellist and a formidable politician who was never, ever afraid to express her views, but also had a great sense of humour and was always up for a laugh. Farewell to an icon.”
Last Known Communications
Miss Widdecombe had been due on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show at 1pm on Wednesday. ITV News later published a series of WhatsApp images that appear to show that Miss Widdecombe stopped responding to messages from a TV producer after the approximate time police believe the attack took place that day. She last sent a message at 12.19pm that day acknowledging she had received a Zoom link to appear on the programme, which read “Received! Panic Over!” But she did not respond to a message asking her to join the Zoom call at 12.48pm and did not answer further calls or other messages attempting to contact her.
Investigation and Arrest
Allwright then confirmed at 1.27pm live on air that she was booked to appear on the show but had not turned up. The production team then followed up with Miss Widdecombe’s agent on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning. A 28-year-old white British man who was arrested on suspicion of her murder on Saturday has since been rearrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism. Counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation, with the head of UK counter-terrorism policing, Laurence Taylor, saying that new information and evidence had come to light during the police investigation into her murder.
