University Employee Arrested After Post Celebrating Ann Widdecombe’s Death

A 50-year-old trans employee of the University of Aberdeen has been arrested and charged after posting comments on social media celebrating the death of former pro-life Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe.

The pro-life leader was found dead in her home in what police are investigating as a murder.

Police Scotland said they received reports on Saturday, July 11, relating to a post made online. Following further assessment, a 50-year-old has been arrested and charged in connection. A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

The posts were made on the Bluesky platform by web developer Heather Herbert, a man who pretends to be a woman.

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He called Widdecombe’s death “good news” and said he hoped the 78-year-old politician had died a “painful death.”

“I hope she was handcuffed to the bed as she screamed in agony,” Herbert wrote.

Widdecombe was found dead in her home. Police launched a murder probe after she was allegedly killed on July 9. A 28-year-old man has been arrested in Yorkshire in connection with her murder.

The University of Aberdeen issued a statement saying the comments were entirely the individual’s own and did not represent the views of the institution.

“We do not condone violence or hateful behavior in any form,” the university said. “We are reviewing this as a matter of priority through our established processes and are cooperating with Police Scotland as they carry out their inquiries, so cannot comment further.”

Herbert, a former Scottish Labour candidate who later joined the Greens, told The National that he felt the response to his posts had been “hugely overblown.”

Widdecombe served as prisons minister under Prime Minister John Major before leaving Parliament. She later became a Member of the European Parliament for the Brexit Party and served as a spokeswoman for Reform UK.

She was known throughout her career for her firm moral convictions and willingness to challenge the political establishment and abortion.

During her long and distinguished career in Parliament, she was a leader in the public fight for protections for unborn babies at the beginning of life and the elderly and vulnerable towards the end of life.

As a patron of Right To Life UK for many years, her strong and consistent pro-life voting record serves as an example and aspiration for younger pro-life politicians entering the world of being a publicly pro-life politician, the group told LifeNews.

During her time in politics and after, she consistently voted in favour of greater protections for unborn babies and against attempts to legalise assisted suicide. As early as 1990, in a debate on the Abortion Act 1967, she argued that abortion should not be treated as any other medical intervention and that existing protections for unborn babies should not be eroded further.

In the same year, when debating amendments to the then Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, Widdecombe insisted that unborn babies not be left out of the discussion, arguing that, due to medical advances, the abortion limit should be lowered.

In another debate in the same year, Widdecombe raised concerns that an amendment to abortion legislation, allowing the Health Secretary to designate “a class of places” as suitable for abortions, would inadvertently pave the way for at-home abortions.

However, the author of the amendment, Robert Key MP, dismissed Widdecombe’s concerns and accused the then Conservative MP of speaking from “the whip issued by the pro-life group” and misleading Parliament.

The Health Secretary at the time, Kenneth Clarke, then assured MPs that the legislation was not intended to legalise home abortions and that abortions would only be “administered only in closely regulated circumstances under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner”.

Chris Whitehouse, a Right To Life UK Trustee, said: “For 40 years, Ann was to me a personal and family friend, a political mentor and a remarkable heroine of the pro-life cause. To have known her was a pleasure and a privilege, if sometimes a challenge. She was unflinching in her politics, constant in her friendships and steadfast in her defence of the principle of the right to life, both for the unborn and for those approaching the end of their lives”.

30 years later, Ann Widdecombe’s then-dismissed concerns have become a reality in the form of pills-by-post abortion, which, as of 2023, accounts for 72% of all abortions in England and Wales.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood described the circumstances as extremely distressing. “Ann’s dedication to public service was decades long, and she was a true servant of her constituents,” Mahmood said.

She added that the Home Office stands ready to support the police investigation and urged the public to avoid speculation.

Former Conservative minister Edwina Currie, a longtime acquaintance of Widdecombe, expressed shock at the news. “A frail 78-year-old lady, and they’re looking for a white male. God help us all,” Currie wrote on social media.

Widdecombe’s management company said it was “absolutely devastated by this news following a very traumatic and upsetting 24 hours” and appealed for anyone with information to contact police.

The murder inquiry remains in its early stages, with officers continuing to gather evidence and appeal for public assistance.

First elected as a Conservative MP for Maidstone in 1987, she held her seat until leaving the Commons in 2010, during which time she held two Ministerial positions, including Minister of State at the Home Office with responsibility for prisons and immigration. She was the only prison Minister to have personally visited every prison in England and Wales.

She returned to frontline politics in 2019 as a Member of the European Parliament until January 2020.