Isabel Oakeshott encountered a suspicious individual the day of the former Tory and Reform politician’s death
Ann Widdecombe’s TalkTV co-star Isabel Oakeshott has recalled an “odd” encounter at her Cotswolds home on the day of the former MP’s murder. Oakeshott appeared on Jeremy Kyle’s show on Wednesday and recalled a chilling encounter with someone who arrived by train and took photographs of her home.
She said on the show: “Let me tell you something this morning, Jeremy. I’ve had very little sleep, because last night … once I heard the police are actually saying this could be part of a wider plot, I recalled that I had a very, very odd encounter with an individual outside my home in the Cotswolds last week. It was so odd that I got video footage of it. I’ve got video footage of the individual and two people confronted the individual, so I’ve got a wall of evidence, as it were.”
She explained: “I actually thought the person was a reporter, but I wasn’t convinced that they were a reporter. Their behaviour was so strange. Last night, after hearing that there’s a wider thing, I began looking back at that video evidence, and I noted that this individual was outside my home taking photographs precisely at the time that Ann Widdecombe was about to be murdered. It was last Wednesday morning.
“Coincidence? Well, very likely it was a coincidence. But at this point … I think that has to be ruled out.”
Kyle asked her: “Have you spoken to the police about it?”
Oakeshott replied: “I will be. I have discussed it with [fiance] Richard [Tice], he thinks that we do need to share that information with the inquiry, just to rule it out.
“People do strange things. I do live in a part of the Cotswolds where there are a lot of tourists – they do come, and they take photos, but it’s not one of the big tourist routes. People come at the weekend to go to the pubs, and then they walk up and down the street.
“Our house has got this beautiful … I won’t go into details, but anyway, people take photos of the house. So that’s not unusual.
“But this person stood out. This was a Wednesday morning. They had clearly come off the train, walked up the hill into the village, and I happened to be just coming back from a run, and I immediately thought, ‘this person doesn’t look right. They don’t look like they fit into any of the categories of people that are around our small town’.
“So I had eyes on him. He noticed that I noticed him, and in my view, he hid. Because I’m a reporter and I’ve got radar for this stuff, I thought this person was being really weird, and I’m going to carry on. I’m going to just make it difficult for him.”
She elaborated: “When he emerged, he did exactly what I expected him to do, which was to walk up the street, stop opposite our house, and take photos. I did confront him, and he had a little story as to who he was. It was a bit odd. Straightaway afterwards, guess what he did? He walked back down to the train station.
“It’s a bit … who does that? That is really, really weird. We’re a long way from London. Do you just come in and do that and go again?”