Police have opened further inquiries into a former Labour candidate after an online post appeared to celebrate the death of Ann Widdecombe and express a wish that she had suffered an “extremely painful death.”
Heather Herbert, a transgender web developer at Aberdeen University, posted the remarks on Bluesky on July 10, describing the news of the former Conservative MP’s death as “good news.” The post was made a day after Ms Widdecombe was found dead with serious injuries at her cottage in Haytor on Dartmoor.
The comments were reported by members of the public, prompting both Police Scotland and Ms Herbert’s employer to begin looking into the matter. The post was published before it emerged that police were treating Ms Widdecombe’s death as part of a murder investigation.
Police Scotland initially said the information had been assessed and that “no criminality” had been established.
In an update this afternoon, however, a spokesperson for the force said: “We received reports on Saturday 11 July 2026 relating to a post made online.
“Following further assessment, additional enquiries are being carried out.”
The Scottish Greens have also launched their own investigation, confirming today that they are examining the matter because of Ms Herbert’s links to the party.
Ms Herbert joined the Scottish Greens in late 2021, after previously being a member of Scottish Labour.
In the post on Bluesky last Thursday, Ms Herbert shared Sky News’ initial story on Ms Widdecombe’s death and wrote: ‘And some good news for once. I hope it was an extremely painful death.’
She added in another post: ‘And I hope she was handcuffed to the bed as she screamed in agony.’
Former Scottish Labour candidate Heather Herbert, a web developer at Aberdeen University, relished in the news of Ann Widdecombe’s death online
Ms Herbert said she hoped the former Tory MP, 78, suffered an agonising death
Ms Herbert later doubled down, insisting she was ‘glad [Ms Widdecombe] was dead’ – even after deeply distressing details of the 78-year-old’s murder emerged.
The hard-Left has been condemned for seeking to use Ms Widdecombe’s death to score political points.
Piers Morgan described the backlash as ‘despicably cruel, heartless and abusive’, and said it had reminded him ‘that the least kind people on earth are ironically those on the #BeKind woke Left’.
Ms Widdecombe was found dead by her gardener at her cottage in Haytor on Dartmoor at around 11.40am on Thursday after sustaining serious injuries.
A 28-year-old white British man from Rotherham was arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday.
Yesterday, specialist officers from Counter Terrorism Policing took over the investigation into the death of the former minister.
Laurence Taylor, leading the investigation, said today that it is believed the political veteran was the victim of a ‘targeted attack’ and confirmed officers are still looking into any ‘motivation’ behind her death.
Ms Herbert doubled down on her comments even after the murder investigation was made public
Ms Widdecombe was killed in her home on Wednesday last week, and discovered 24 hours later
Mr Taylor said: ‘We are still working to understand the extent of any planning or preparation, and the motivation that sits behind that attack.
‘I don’t want to comment further on that motivation or preparation at this stage of our inquiries.’
He added: ‘In terms of the preparation and planning, we are aware that there has been some preparation and planning. I don’t want to go into the details of the extent of that at this stage.’
Following her posts online, student newspaper The Gaudie contacted Ms Herbert on Saturday, to which she replied: ‘I don’t want to see anyone murdered, but I’m still glad she is dead.
‘I’m not a hypocrite. I posted that before the murder investigation was launched.
‘I’m a nobody. I have no power to do anything. Ann Widdecombe was able to and made the lives of ordinary people hell.’
Aberdeen University was quick to distance itself from her comments, with rector Iona Fyfe saying: ‘I’d like to condemn any comments which glorifies violence of any sort, against anyone.’
Principal and Vice Chancellor, Professor Peter Edwards, said the university has a zero-tolerance approach to ‘violence or hateful behaviour’, and gave his assurance the comments were being investigated ‘as a priority’.
