A 28-year-old man is currently detained by British police in connection to the murder of Ann Widdecombe. 

The former Conservative Prisons Minister and Brexit Party MEP was found dead in her home on Thursday, with many outlets reporting that it was her gardener who stumbled on her body. 

The 78-year-old was still a media favourite, 16 years after she left the House of Commons and was due to do an interview with Channel 5 on Wednesday, the day she was killed. 

On Friday, her death was announced and hours later police called a press conference to inform the public that they believed she had been murdered. 

Following the launch of their investigation, police arrested a 26-year-old man, questioned him and then released him without charge. 

Over the weekend, a 28-year-old was arrested after an analysis of CCTV footage. 

“It appears to have revealed that a 28-year-old man from South Yorkshire drove some 270 miles,”  London-based journalist Vincent McAviney told Newstalk Breakfast.  

“On Wednesday morning, he was seen departing a house in a red Vauxhall Corsa with some kind of pole that he put into the passenger seat. 

“He was seen leaving his house and then presumably later that day, he drove back and neighbours have described him to some news outlets as being a bit of a loner. 

“Someone with some learning difficulties who had become a recluse after his father passed away before Christmas and that he didn't go out much.

"So much so that the car that he took, that red Corsa, had sort of weeds in the driveway growing up around it.” 

Ann Widdecombe as she leaves the European Parliament in Brussels to take the Eurostar train back to London, following Britain's exit from the European Union. Picture by: AP Photo/Francisco Seco.

At this point, police do not believe Ms Widdecombe’s murder was politically motivated. 

However, that has not stopped a number of people speculating online. 

“We had statements quite quickly from the Prime Minister, from Kemi Badenoch, expressing their shock and their sorrow,” he said. 

“But they obviously did not want to do anything that would hamper a police investigation.” 

Paying tribute to his former MEP colleague, Nigel Farage described Ms Widdecombe as “without doubt, the best known female politician in Britain since Margaret Thatcher”. 

He also praised her kindness and said she was a woman who “wouldn’t hurt a fly”.

Main image: Ann Widdecombe. Picture by: Alamy.com.