{"id":545080,"date":"2026-07-11T22:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/545080\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T22:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T22:25:08","slug":"is-everything-okay-texts-reveal-when-ann-widdecombe-stopped-replying-after-suspected-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/545080\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Is everything okay?’: Texts reveal when Ann Widdecombe stopped replying after suspected attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ann Widdecombe stopped replying to messages minutes before police believe she was attacked, texts seen by ITV News reveal.<\/p>\n

A producer was discussing with the former MP her scheduled appearance on Channel 5’s Matt Allwright show on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

In a WhatsApp conversation shared with ITV News, the producer is discussing with Widdecombe details about the appearance and asks her to join a Zoom call from her home.<\/p>\n

The conversation shows they were regularly exchanging messages between 12.14pm and 12.19pm on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The last message Widdecombe sent at 12.19pm said: “Received! Panic over!!”. <\/p>\n

A WhatsApp read receipt shows Widdecombe read a response sent at 12.19pm but did not read any of the subsequent messages from the producer, with the first follow-up sent at 12.48pm.<\/p>\n

The producer attempted to call Widdecombe numerous times but received no answer.<\/p>\n

The messages shared with ITV News. Credit: ITV News<\/p>\n

At 12.55pm the producer said: “Hi Ann is everything ok?”.<\/p>\n

At 1.27pm Allwright confirmed live on his show that Widdecombe was scheduled as a guest, but that she had not turned up.<\/p>\n

The show\u2019s production team followed up with Widdecombe’s agent on Wednesday evening and on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

All of the WhatsApp messages have been passed on to the police.<\/p>\n

Devon and Cornwall Police said on Saturday it is believed Widdecombe was attacked on Wednesday at around 12.30pm.<\/p>\n

The ex-Tory prisons minister was found dead at her home in Haytor on Dartmoor at around 11.40am on Thursday after sustaining serious injuries. <\/p>\n

Widdecombe appeared on TalkTV on Wednesday morning, discussing the by-election in Clacton.<\/p>\n

A 26-year-old man arrested on suspicion of murdering Widdecombe was released from custody on Saturday and is no longer part of the investigation.<\/p>\n

Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said on Saturday: “Our inquiries are moving at pace for a suspect who is believed to be a white male.”<\/p>\n

Widdecombe was a Conservative MP between 1987 and 2010 for the Kent constituency of Maidstone, later Maidstone and the Weald, and held several ministerial positions in Sir John Major\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter <\/a>for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. <\/p>\n

In her post-Commons career, she appeared on the BBC\u2019s Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, partnered with Anton du Beke, and reached the semi-finals thanks to the public vote.<\/p>\n

She became a member of Nigel Farage\u2019s Brexit Party in 2019 and served as an MEP representing South West England in Brussels between 2019 and 2020.<\/p>\n

She later became the immigration and justice spokeswoman for Farage\u2019s Reform UK and remained active in the media.<\/p>\n

She also found fame outside politics after starring in Strictly Come Dancing and Celebrity Big Brother.<\/p>\n

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ann Widdecombe stopped replying to messages minutes before police believe she was attacked, texts seen by ITV News…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-545080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}