Ann Widdecombe murder latest: Man ‘drove from house linked to suspect with stick’

When the residents of Haytor Vale first heard police sirens on Thursday morning they assumed there had been an accident on the moors.

Surrounded by the imposing granite outcrops of Haytor and Hound Tor, scene of the haunting Sir Arthur Conan Doyle crime novel The Hound of the Baskervilles, villagers are far more accustomed to the warning signs that Dartmoor Search and Rescue are passing through than those of armed police vans.

Most people in the village never lock their doors and in a heatwave, even ground floor windows of the 25 or so mostly-detached, well-maintained houses in Haytor village are left open for days on end.

Like many residents, Ann Widdecombe moved to the beautiful village, with views for miles across to the Teign estuary, to get away from it all, setting herself up “for the rest of my days” in a bungalow she named ‘Widdecombe’s Rest’.

“A lot of people think it means rest, as in having a rest,” she once told an interviewer at local news site DevonLive with a trademark grin. “But what it actually means is the rest of Widdecombe’s life!”

Her bungalow, purchased for an estimated £600,000 in 2008, sits at a quiet crossroads at the top of the village surrounded by expansive well-kept lawns, with an outdoor swimming pool complete with slide at the back of the house, with she reportedly had built with the money she earned from her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing with Anton du Beke in 2010.

But despite living in a tiny community with just a handful of neighbours, the 78-year-old former Tory MP and prisons minister played a limited role in village life.

A neighbour of the address linked to to the Ann Widdecombe murder suspect said the arrest made them “feel quite sick”.

The arrest took place on Saturday evening and there were “loads of unmarked police cars and loads of people ran into the house,” the neighbour told The Telegraph.

“I feel quite sick to tell you the truth.”

Another neighbour toldThe Times: “It was quite quiet, really.

“There was no commotion. Everyone was watching the England [World Cup] game, so I think the whole thing passed people by.”

There was a substantial police presence at the property in Byrley Road in the Kimberworth Park area of Rotherham on Sunday.

A South Yorkshire Police Tactical Support Group van was parked outside the house with at least two other marked vehicles, and forensics officers in white overalls were going in and out of the property.

Chief Constable James Vaughan has praised his force for its investigation into Ann Widecombe’s murder, saying it was “clearly British policing at its very best.”

Mr Vaughan, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said the force has “mounted an extraordinary response to a horrific murder of a very prominent public figure”.

“The operation has been running at a lightning pace for 48 hours,” he added.

“I am really pleased that we have a suspect firmly in custody and that will undergo some further work from us today.

“Well done to all – this is clearly British policing at its very best.”

As we’ve been reporting, on Sunday, there was a substantial police presence at a house in Byrley Road in the Kimberworth Park area of Rotherham.

On Saturday evening, Devon and Cornwall Police arrested a 28-year-old on suspicion of murder in the South Yorkshire town.

Here are pictures of police activity in Byrley Road this evening:

Neighbours of the address linked to the Ann Widdecombe murder suspect have spoken more on the arrest, which happened shortly before England played Norway in the World Cup quarter-final.

One told The Times: “It was quite quiet, really. There was no commotion. Everyone was watching the England [World Cup] game, so I think the whole thing passed people by.”

Amid the police presence outside the address linked to the suspect in the Ann Widdecombe murder investigation, journalists have also been present, speaking to neighbours.

Devon and Cornwall Police said they arrested a man, 28, at an address in Rotherham on suspicion of the murder of Miss Widdecombe on Saturday night.

Neighbour Rayan Astle, 26, told The Times: “I don’t think he had a job. We just never saw him.”

Another neighbour, Kingsley Whybrow, 29, told the newspaper he hadn’t seen anyone come and go from the property.

A woman told Press Association: “He’s been living there on his own.

“We’ve never even seen him. We don’t really know him. I don’t think anybody knows him. It’s so strange.”