Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has opened up about this relationship with the late Ann Widdecombe, as he revealed that he spoke to the politician just days before her death.

A Celebrity Big Brother finalist and Reform UK spokesperson, Widdecombe died in July aged 78, with Joshua Kerry, 28, awaiting trial having been charged with murder.

Thanks to her infamous spell on Strictly in 2010 – when Widdecombe competed with professional dancer and future judge Anton Du Beke – the former Conservative minister struck up a friendship with Horwood that continued when the pair performed in pantomime together.

In a new interview, Horwood revealed that he and Widdecombe had exchanged messages less than a week before her death.

“She wanted me to be a guest speaker for one of her charities because she couldn’t do it that particular night,” the choreographer told The Daily Telegraph.

“I said: ‘Of course I will, my darling.’ The last email she wrote to me, she just wrote: ‘Yippee, Yippee, YIPPEE!!’

Horwood continued: “And then six days later, she was bludgeoned to death. It was disgusting, and terrifying that that could happen to someone.

“No matter what you think about someone politically, she was a human being, and she was actually a really lovely person privately. We all have public and private personas.”

Widdecombe’s body was found at her home in Devon by her gardener, who was sent around to conduct a welfare check after the TV personality missed an appearance on Channel 5 on 9 July.

Her death was made public the following day, and was initially reported as being non-suspicious.

Hours later, however, local police launched a murder investigation after discovering Widdecombe’s body had “serious injuries”, with a provisional cause of death given as blunt force injury.

Kerry was arrested soon after, and charged with Widdecombe’s murder on 20 July. He is alleged to have hit her 21 times with a hammer before tipping her out of her chair and onto the floor.

Following her death, Du Beke shared his “devastation” on social media at this “saddest of news”, as the ballroom dancer said that he would “remember [Widdecombe] fondly and miss her”.

“I had the most brilliant time with Ann on Strictly Come Dancing, she became a real friend,” Du Beke said.

“She was fun, she was upbeat, she was positive, she was supportive and she was game; wanted to enter into the spirit of the whole thing.”