Ann Widdecombe was attacked nearly 24 hours before she was found dead with serious injuries at her remote Dartmoor home, police believe, as a manhunt for the killer continues.
The former Tory prisons minister, 78, was found by ambulance crews on Thursday morning, sparking a murder investigation and the arrest of a 26-year-old British national on Friday.
But police said on Saturday that they had released the suspect and he was no longer part of their investigation and they were pushing on with their hunt for her killer, as forensic teams carried out examinations at her home.
It came as it emerged Ms Widdecombe had been in contact with staff at Channel 5 just after midday on Wednesday, ahead of a planned interview, before she suddenly stopped responding to messages.
Ms Widdecombe is understood to have sent her last message to a researcher at 12:19pm before becoming unreachable, according to ITV News.
Channel 5 presenter Dan Walker confirmed she was due to appear on 5 Daytime on Wednesday afternoon but “stopped responding to messages and didn’t turn up for the show”.
In a updated statement on the murder probe on Saturday afternoon, Assistant Chief Constable Matt Longman said they now believe she was fatally attacked on Wednesday 8 July at around 12.30pm.
“Our enquiries are moving at pace for a suspect who is believed to be a white male,” he said, adding that while the death is being treated as suspicious, they do not believe there is a wider risk to the public.
Police earlier said they had released a white male arrested on Friday in Newton Abbot, some nine miles from the small village of Haytor, where Ms Widdecombe lived.
Detectives urged anyone with video or images that might help them piece together what happened to Ms Widdecombe to come forward, directing the public to an online portal.
Speaking to journalists after placing flowers in front of her house, her personal driver Peter Horrell Ms Widdecombe, who lived alone, said she had “never mentioned any fear” for her safety and that she loved living in Haytor.
Asked whether she had ever expressed any concern for her safety, he said: “Not really, she seemed quite happy living up here by herself. You never expect it, do you? Well I certainly didn’t. You know, very sad.”
Christine Maloney, who lives near Ms Widdecombe’s home, agreed the area was “very safe” and said it was not unusual for locals to leave their cars and front doors unlocked.
“I’m very shocked at [her death], it shouldn’t have happened, it’s horrific. Everyone knows that’s her house, perhaps that’s the problem?” she said.
Neighbour Alison Gilbert, who has lived in Haytor Vale for more than a decade, said the Brexiteer and former Reform spokeswoman was a “really nice woman” and well known locally.
“It’s a lovely area – you talk to strangers. Everyone saw her as quite an opinionated politician, but to us she was just a person in the community.”
One woman living in the area, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s tragic, someone gives all their life to public service and then they end like that.
“(Haytor) is a safe area. Every couple of years or so, somebody goes around the garden sheds and nicks all the expensive gardening equipment. That’s as far as it goes really. We’ve never had anything close (to this) in all my years.”
A mass was held for Ms Widdecombe, a Catholic, at Buckfast Abbey, which she frequented for Sunday services, on Saturday.
Rt Rev Nicholas Hudson, the Bishop of Plymouth, told the BBC: “I know that she was a woman of faith and a great public servant,” he said, adding that the church was praying for her and her loved ones.
Political commentator Adam Boulton separately apologised for his “insensitive” remarks on Saturday after describing Ann Widdecombe as a “spinster” and an “old maid”.
The former Sky News presenter came under fire for his comments following news of her death on Friday. He initially defended his language, saying he “sticks to the facts” as a “reporter who knew her for decades”.
On Saturday, he acknowledged the backlash, writing: “I was seriously wrong and insensitive in one of the several media appearances I made yesterday in reaction to the death of Ann Widdecombe. I got the timing and tone of my initial word portrait of her wrong.”
Ms Widdecombe was known for her socially conservative views, first as a junior minister in Conservative Prime Minister John Major’s 1992-1997 government and latterly as an immigration and justice spokesperson for Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK.
She converted to Catholicism partly in protest at the Church of England’s ordination of women as priests and was opposed to abortion and to equalising the age of consent for homosexual and heterosexual relationships.
