Senior Reform UK politicians are receiving round-the-clock protection after the murder of Ann Widdecombe, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

Other party figures are living in fear of a potential copycat attack following the shocking death of the Reform justice spokeswoman on Wednesday.

The news came as detectives late last night arrested a 28-year-old white British national in South Yorkshire on suspicion of murder.

Ms Widdecombe, 78, was battered to death, and although her remote Dartmoor home was ‘highly fortified’ with ‘security cameras everywhere’, her killer may have slipped inside through a door left open because of the warm weather, the MoS can reveal.

It it thought the politician was killed at 12.30pm, half an hour before she was scheduled to appear on Matt Allwright’s Channel 5 programme via Zoom. 

Last night it emerged that production staff on the show – who last heard from Ms Widdecombe at 12.19pm – waited seven hours before telling her agents she had failed to appear and stopped answering messages.

It is the early stages of an investigation – the ‘golden hours’ – that are critical for gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses.

In other developments in a crime that has shocked the nation, it emerged that:

• Ms Widdecombe’s body lay undiscovered in her kitchen for nearly 24 hours until found by her ‘traumatised’ gardener
• Police struggled to download footage from her doorbell camera, sources say, suggesting Ms Widdecombe’s attacker ‘tried to smash it’
• Her family fear her death may be politicised and are said to feel ‘uneasy’ over Reform leader Nigel Farage giving an impromptu press conference outside her Devon home yesterday 
• Police conducted fingertip searches of bushes and moss-covered walls near her property 

As Mr Farage arrived at the scene yesterday to lay flowers, party sources told the MoS they were doing ‘everything we can to keep our people safe’. It is understood that this involves 24-hour protection for the party’s eight MPs plus home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf.

Scotland Yard is believed to be carrying out its own assessment of the protection required for Reform politicians.

A Reform UK source said: ‘As things stand, we don’t know if it was politically motivated or a robbery entirely unconnected with Ann’s political beliefs. But it stands to reason that Reform politicians run a particularly high risk.’

In addition, sources close to Robert Jenrick, Reform’s Treasury spokesman, said he had recently raised concerns about being ‘plagued’ by a stalker who harassed him continuously.

Nadine Dorries, a former Tory culture secretary who defected to Reform last autumn, said that in the wake of Ms Widdecombe’s murder, she was moving out of her cottage in the countryside.

Writing in today’s MoS, Ms Dorries says: ‘This is the first time in the 25 years since I first stepped into public life that I feel genuinely scared. Knowing that Ann died in horrific circumstances – possibly murdered for the principled political views she held – has only deepened the state of fear that those of us who dare to be in Right-of-centre politics feel today.’

A highly placed source told the MoS last night that Ms Widdecombe’s family ‘don’t want her death hijacked for political purposes’, adding that they ‘are very uneasy’ about Mr Farage being at the scene.

Sources said Ms Widdecombe’s bungalow was equipped with a high level of security, reflecting the fact ‘she was an old lady living alone in a remote area’. 

One said: ‘You couldn’t move for the cameras. It is a shocking irony that it’s thought she left the door open.’

Like many politicians, she received death threats and hate mail. One source said the worst of it came from campaigners angered by her opposition to abortion.

Mr Farage said yesterday: ‘Whether it was politically motivated, whether it was someone with a grudge. I don’t think it pays at this time to speculate.’

Devon and Cornwall Police revealed that Ms Widdecombe had sustained severe blunt trauma wounds to her head.

Speaking of the ‘violent, barbaric manner of her death’, Mr Farage compared Ms Widdecombe’s killing to the unsolved 1999 murder of BBC reporter Jill Dando.

‘Whatever the motives… let’s just hope and pray this is not a Jill Dando-type case where they don’t find a person. I believe with modern technology they will,’ he said.

‘What it does say is that people now in public life, especially politics, the world is much more dangerous than it’s ever been.

'We will do anything we can to support the police. I’ve had our security teams going through our emails to pick out ones that were directly to Ann or were abusive about Ann.’

Shortly before midnight, police announced that a 28-year-old had been arrested in South Yorkshire on suspicion of murder. 

They said in a statement: ‘The suspect, who is a white British national, is now in police custody. Miss Widdecombe’s family have been informed of this development.

‘We were supported by Counter Terrorism Policing North East and South Yorkshire Police who carried out the arrest on behalf of Devon & Cornwall Police.

‘At this time, there is still no information to suggest that this is a terrorism-related incident and as a force we retain primacy of the investigation.’

Earlier, a 26-year-old man arrested as a suspect was released with no further action to be taken against him.

Nick Candy, a Reform donor, told the MoS that the abuse Mr Farage received should be taken more seriously.

He said: ‘You do not have to have been assassinated before concerns about your safety deserve to be taken seriously. Political violence does not begin with murder. 

'It begins with harassment, intimidation, objects thrown from crowds and threats. Above all, it begins when people decide that, because they dislike someone’s politics, ordinary standards of behaviour no longer apply.’   

TV team waited 7 hours to report her no-show 

By Daisy Graham-Brown

Ann Widdecombe’s agents were not alerted to the fact that she had failed to make a TV appearance for more than seven hours, The Mail on Sunday understands.

The ex-minister was due to appear on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show at 1pm on Wednesday via video call from her Devon home. 

She sent her last message to a researcher at 12.19pm, but failed to respond to a follow-up at 12.48pm, asking her to join a Zoom call. 

Police believe she was murdered between those times, although her body was not discovered until Thursday.

The MoS has learned that ITN, the company that makes the show, only emailed Ms Widdecombe’s agents at about 8pm that evening to tell them she had failed to appear. There is no suggestion the company acted improperly.

Ms Widdecombe was known as an organised and punctual woman, and friends last night said it would have been ‘highly unusual’ for her to have missed an appointment without making her apologies.

When her agents, Cloud9 Management, announced her death on Friday morning, they made no mention of the circumstances.

On Friday night, Channel 5 News presenter Dan Walker said: ‘Ann was due to appear on 5 Daytime on Wednesday afternoon but stopped responding to messages and didn’t turn up for the show. 

The team contacted her agent to ask them to check in on her. This information has been passed to police.’