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The former MP's management said they were "absolutely devastated” by the news as a police cordon remains outside her Devon home. The 78-year-old's death was announced on Friday morning which police are now treating as suspicious after the former MP suffered "serious injuries". Officers from Devon and Cornwall were called to her home at Haytor and were joined by the ambulance service at around 11.40am on Thursday where she was found dead. Police say her next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by specially trained officers. A cordon remains in place at the property while specialist officers continue forensic examinations and road closures are in place around the scene. Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp #crime #ukpolitics #LBC LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK. Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/ Sign up to LBC’s weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
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0:00
The breaking news in the last 15 minutes or so is that police in Devon are launching a murder inquiry into the death of the former MP Anne Whiddicombe, who was found dead at her home on Dartmoor this morning
0:15
Police have given us a statement before they do a press conference in the next 20 minutes or so
0:20
We'll, of course, bring that to you live. but they've given us a statement this afternoon in which they've described being called
0:26
to an address at around 20 to midday this morning where they say that 78 year old Miss
0:34
Middekin was located deceased within the property. She had sustained serious injuries. Her next of kin
0:41
they say have been informed of being supported by specially trained officers. They say a cordon
0:46
remains in place at the property while specialist officers continue forensic examinations. There are
0:51
road closures in place around the scene too. The public, they say, will see a significant
0:56
police presence in the area today, while detectives and officers conduct house to house and CCTV
1:02
inquiries. As I say, that press conference is coming in the next 20 minutes, but we're getting
1:08
more information minute by minute on this. Natasha Clark is LBC's political editor
1:13
with not just more information about a potential description of a suspect, but also a comment from the Home Secretary as well, Natasha
1:19
Yes, that's right, Tom. And that statement that you've just read includes a quote from the Detective Chief Inspector Ilona Rosson, who says that they believe they are now looking for the person responsible who we believe to be a white male
1:34
And they are launching a nationwide investigation and an appeal for information
1:39
They're looking for anyone with CCTV, doorbell or dashcam footage, which could assist with our investigation
1:46
investigation and yes just in the last few minutes as well we have had a comment in from
1:50
the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood who has posted on social media saying that she is deeply saddened
1:55
to hear about the death of Anne Woodcombe. The circumstances are extremely distressing and my
2:00
thoughts are with Anne's family and loved ones. She said that she was a true public servant to
2:04
her constituents. She's spoken with the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police today
2:09
She says the Home Office stands ready to provide whatever support they need but this final line I
2:14
think really does sum up the seriousness of the situation, Tom. I urge everyone to avoid speculation
2:18
and to allow the police investigation to progress This is clearly a very very worrying development and I sure we will in the next few minutes hear from politicians across the spectrum about the potential
2:30
seriousness of this incident. I see Home Secretary, as you're saying, circumstances around this she's
2:34
describing as extremely distressing. It's not all that common for the most senior members of
2:42
government to comment on the beginnings of a police investigation, but the details here are
2:47
as the Home Secretary says, distressing, and would become a very public figure
2:51
not just because of her career in politics, but then afterwards, the advocating she did on the media
2:56
across channels like this, on shows like this, for her points of view, make her quite a well-known personality
3:03
well-known person, even outside the realm of politics. If senior members of the government are getting involved
3:10
at the level of Home Secretary and possibly more, that indicates a real serious concern about what's gone on here, doesn't it
3:16
Yes, and without trying to speculate, which the police have asked us not to do on exactly what's going on here
3:22
I don't think we can divorce that from the situation in which Westminster has found itself in for a number of years now
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where we know that threats against political figures are at an all-time high. And we have in the past seen, unfortunately, the very two tragic murders of two MPs
3:37
So this has to be. You cannot divorce those two from that reality of that
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And we know that we've been talking about police security, politician security
3:46
We talk about it all the time. I was speaking with Dan Jarvis, the new Defence Secretary
3:51
about Joe Cox's murder 10 years on just a couple of weeks ago, and he was saying that he still believes that there is such a threat against politicians
3:59
So while we do not know the motivations behind it, it is obviously clear to say Anne Woodcombe is a famous, prominent
4:06
former Conservative politician. She served as the MP for 23 years for Maidstone
4:10
She then went to serve in the Brexit Party and Reform UK. So she is a well-known politician
4:15
She's also a well-known media personality. She's on the media all the time. She's talking to people about what the reformed property are up to
4:21
She was their immigration spokesperson. You can't ignore these facts. She is a part of political life
4:26
But equally, also in the sort of cultural sphere, she was on Strictly Come Dancing. She came second in Celebrity Big Brother
4:32
She's well-known. And let's be honest, Tom, she was well-loved as a media personality
4:38
And Nigel Farage gave a very fitting tribute today where he was talking about the fact that he thinks the public loved her The public you know really got a boost from seeing her and hearing from her and everybody I spoken to about her today has been pretty devastated at her loss
4:52
Like I say, we weren't expecting when we heard the news today that she passed away
4:56
She's, of course, 78. We weren't expecting any sort of mention of foul play in any way with the statement that we got this morning
5:03
Quite. Natasha, stay there if you would. Natasha Clarke, LBC's political editor. Let's bring in Ian Dale, of course, my colleague here on LBC
5:08
Ian, again, I know that you knew Anne well, so we are very sorry for your loss
5:15
I wonder what you make of what you've heard. I'm just reeling with shock
5:24
Anne Whittacombe was a close friend of Sir David Amess. And look, as you rightly said, we shouldn't speculate on what's happened
5:31
but you can't rule out the possibility that there were political motives here. It may transpire that there aren't
5:38
But it's unbelievable to think that a woman who, yes, she was 78 years old, but she was so active
5:48
She was doing events all around the country for the causes that she believed in
5:54
And her reputation of being a sort of very trenchant conviction politician and sometimes sort of quite hard-nosed actually belied the real Anne Whittacombe
6:06
She was an incredibly kind person. And I've seen some horrible things said about her
6:10
not least by Peter Tatchell this afternoon, who really ought to be ashamed of himself
6:14
I've seen that too, that Peter Tatchell was saying, you know, she voted against LGBT legislation throughout her career
6:21
and used a description of perhaps that he wasn't too sad to see Anne Widdicombe go
6:29
which is a disgrace, really. Well, it is. And look, you can't just use the excuse
6:35
some of her best friends were gay. They were. I mean, a lot of her male friends were gay
6:40
And as you can imagine, I've had lots of up and downers with Anne Whittacombe on this subject
6:45
But she had clear religious convictions which guided her social conscience, I suppose
6:52
And she believed that marriage would be between a man and a woman. But seven years ago
6:56
I was sitting in the chair that you're sitting in now with Anne Whittacombe opposite me doing a
7:00
I think it was during the 2019 European elections. And I said to her would you reverse equal marriage expecting her to say yes And she said well of course not What a preposterous question Of course I wouldn you can take away things that you given people um I can believe you ask me that question I mean well I did and I really quite surprised by the answer so she she although
7:21
she was a conviction politician she was a woman of nuance and she had a very very well developed
7:28
sense of humour um we there was no suggestion that anything uh towards sort of a sense of foul play
7:37
or anything worse than um an untimely death had happened when we had a statement from her
7:42
publicist this morning saying that she had been found dead at home um but clearly with uh the
7:49
police giving a statement that suggests that serious injuries were sustained and then the
7:53
involvement uh via a statement of the home secretary offering to provide support something
7:57
really very serious seems to have happened here now? Well, it does. I'm not going to break any
8:05
confidences, but I was told around one o'clock how she was found. And I think from what we can gather
8:16
the police investigations since then have come up with evidence that maybe wasn't there at first
8:23
site so i think what happens in these situations is the the ambulance service turn up the police
8:28
turn up and then if there is any suspicion of foul play then detectives come in and i think
8:35
from what i can gather from just piecing it together and i've got no inside knowledge on this
8:39
what i can gather is when the detectives came in they found things which didn't quite add up
8:47
um we're standing by for that police press conference in the in the next 15 minutes or so
8:51
um i don't know this area that she lived in devon at all well but i imagine it's it's a pretty remote
8:57
sort of country i've been to her house it is very remote it's on the top of dartmoor
9:03
there are a few houses sort of either side i seem to remember but it's a very small community and um
9:10
and that will have i mean you you can draw the conclusion if you wanted to murder a senior
9:15
politician, maybe a senior reform politician, then she would have been an easy target because
9:23
there would have been no security and she would have been the last person to have wanted security
9:29
So, I mean, again, I'm in danger of letting speculation run away and we mustn't do that
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