Neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, who gunned down
Labour MP Jo Cox while shouting ‘Britain
first’, has been found guilty of her murder.
A jury took just over 90 minutes to convict
loner Mair, 53, of what was described in
court as an act of ‘sheer brutality and
cowardice’.
This afternoon he
was given a whole
life sentence by a
judge at the Old
Bailey.
He murdered mother
of two and Remain
campaigner Mrs Cox,
41, as she arrived for a constituency
surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, a week
before the EU referendum.
The white supremacist, who gave no
evidence in his defence, shouted ‘Britain
first’ as he fired three shots at his MP and
stabbed her 15 times.
He gave no reaction as he was convicted
on all counts.
Mr Cox told the court: ‘We are not here to
plead for retribution.
‘We feel nothing but pity for him that his
life was so devoid of love and filled with
hatred, his only way of finding meaning
was to attack a woman who represented
all that was good about the country in an
act of supreme cowardice.’
Her murder was a
political act, and an
act of terrorism,
driven by hatred that
has instead led to an
‘outpouring of love’,
he said.
The MP’s family sat
in silence in the packed courtroom as the
verdicts were delivered.
Jeremy Corbyn said the murder of Labour
MP Jo Cox by Thomas Mair was ‘an
attack on democracy, and has robbed the
world of an ambassador of kindness and
compassion’.
As she lay mortally wounded in the street,
the MP for Batley and Spen tried to protect
her aides by urging them to leave her and
save themselves.
During the trial Mrs Cox’s family were left
in tears as her constituency caseworker
Sandra Major described the MP’s selfless
response as she came under attack from
Mair.
She told jurors: ‘He was making motions
towards us with the knife and Jo was lying
in the road and she shouted out ‘get away,
get away you two. Let him hurt me. Don’t
let him hurt you’.’
Her account prompted Mrs Cox’s widower
Brendan to tweet, ‘this is who Jo was’.
Her colleague Fazila Aswat hit Mair with
her handbag and pleaded with Mrs Cox to
think of her two young children and get up
and run.
Despite being too hurt to move away, Mrs
Cox’s thwarted Mair’s initial attack as she
shielded her head with her hands.
Mair briefly walked away to reload the
adapted sawn-off .22 rifle before returning
to shoot and stab her again.
Passer-by Bernard Kenny, 78, was stabbed
as he tried to halt the onslaught by
jumping on Mair’s shoulders from behind.
The pensioner said: ‘Just as I got short of
him he turned around and saw me. He
shoved the knife in and it hit me in the
stomach.
‘The blood started pouring out between my
fingers. I saw the blood and I thought ‘Oh
my God’.’
Mr Kenny, who by coincidence shared his
birthday with Mrs Cox, staggered back and
‘flopped’ down on the steps of a sandwich
shop.
Describing the aftermath, Ms Aswat said:
‘Jo was in my arms. It was probably only
two or three minutes before the ambulance
arrived but it felt like a lifetime.’
The attack was captured on grainy CCTV
and witnessed by 16 members of the
public who travelled to the Old Bailey to
give evidence.
They described the popping noise of Mair’s
gun and how he threatened to stab people
if they got in his way.
Afterwards, Mair walked away as if he had
‘not a care in the world’, the court heard.
Despite discarding some clothes, Mair was
swiftly tracked down a mile away, still
carrying his holdall containing the blood-
splattered murder weapons.
They included a reproduction of a
Fairbairn-Sykes ‘fighting dagger’, a design
first made in 1941 for British special
forces and commando units, with a
17.4cm blade.
Two police constables rugby tackled Mair
to the ground and in the scuffle, he cut his
head.
Following his arrest, police uncovered a
hoard of neo-Nazi literature at his council
house in nearby Lowood Lane.
In pride of place on a bookshelf was a
golden Third Reich eagle ornament with a
swastika emblazoned on the front.
Mair, who had a teaching qualification and
a Kirklees college student card, was a
frequent visitor to Birstall and Batley
libraries.
An investigation of his use of library
computers exposed Mair’s interest in far
right, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi politics in
Britain and abroad.
Not only had he researched Mrs Cox, Mair
had also looked up another Yorkshire-
based Remainer MP, former Tory foreign
secretary William Hague.
Two days after the killing, Mair was
brought before Westminster magistrates
under the terrorism protocol.
When asked to confirm his name, the
defendant, described by neighbours as a
shy loner, said: ‘Death to traitors, freedom
for Britain’.
He has refused to answer to the charges
against him and not guilty pleas were
entered on his behalf to murder, grievous
bodily harm to Mr Kenny and possession
of the gun and dagger.
Having opted not to give evidence in the
trial or put forward any positive defence,
he was found guilty on all the charges.
Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told jurors
the murder brought out the best in Mrs
Cox, her aides and the general public who
tried to help – in stark contrast with the
killer.
Mr Whittam said: ‘The sheer brutality of
her murder and the utter cowardice of her
murder bring the two extremities of
humanity face to face.’
Neo-Nazi Thomas Mair, who gunned down
Labour MP Jo Cox while shouting ‘Britain
first’, has been found guilty of her murder.
A jury took just over 90 minutes to convict
loner Mair, 53, of what was described in
court as an act of ‘sheer brutality and
cowardice’.
This afternoon he
was given a whole
life sentence by a
judge at the Old
Bailey.
He murdered mother
of two and Remain
campaigner Mrs Cox,
41, as she arrived for a constituency
surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, a week
before the EU referendum.
The white supremacist, who gave no
evidence in his defence, shouted ‘Britain
first’ as he fired three shots at his MP and
stabbed her 15 times.
He gave no reaction as he was convicted
on all counts.
Mr Cox told the court: ‘We are not here to
plead for retribution.
‘We feel nothing but pity for him that his
life was so devoid of love and filled with
hatred, his only way of finding meaning
was to attack a woman who represented
all that was good about the country in an
act of supreme cowardice.’
Her murder was a
political act, and an
act of terrorism,
driven by hatred that
has instead led to an
‘outpouring of love’,
he said.
The MP’s family sat
in silence in the packed courtroom as the
verdicts were delivered.
Jeremy Corbyn said the murder of Labour
MP Jo Cox by Thomas Mair was ‘an
attack on democracy, and has robbed the
world of an ambassador of kindness and
compassion’.
As she lay mortally wounded in the street,
the MP for Batley and Spen tried to protect
her aides by urging them to leave her and
save themselves.
During the trial Mrs Cox’s family were left
in tears as her constituency caseworker
Sandra Major described the MP’s selfless
response as she came under attack from
Mair.
She told jurors: ‘He was making motions
towards us with the knife and Jo was lying
in the road and she shouted out ‘get away,
get away you two. Let him hurt me. Don’t
let him hurt you’.’
Her account prompted Mrs Cox’s widower
Brendan to tweet, ‘this is who Jo was’.
Her colleague Fazila Aswat hit Mair with
her handbag and pleaded with Mrs Cox to
think of her two young children and get up
and run.
Despite being too hurt to move away, Mrs
Cox’s thwarted Mair’s initial attack as she
shielded her head with her hands.
Mair briefly walked away to reload the
adapted sawn-off .22 rifle before returning
to shoot and stab her again.
Passer-by Bernard Kenny, 78, was stabbed
as he tried to halt the onslaught by
jumping on Mair’s shoulders from behind.
The pensioner said: ‘Just as I got short of
him he turned around and saw me. He
shoved the knife in and it hit me in the
stomach.
‘The blood started pouring out between my
fingers. I saw the blood and I thought ‘Oh
my God’.’
Mr Kenny, who by coincidence shared his
birthday with Mrs Cox, staggered back and
‘flopped’ down on the steps of a sandwich
shop.
Describing the aftermath, Ms Aswat said:
‘Jo was in my arms. It was probably only
two or three minutes before the ambulance
arrived but it felt like a lifetime.’
The attack was captured on grainy CCTV
and witnessed by 16 members of the
public who travelled to the Old Bailey to
give evidence.
They described the popping noise of Mair’s
gun and how he threatened to stab people
if they got in his way.
Afterwards, Mair walked away as if he had
‘not a care in the world’, the court heard.
Despite discarding some clothes, Mair was
swiftly tracked down a mile away, still
carrying his holdall containing the blood-
splattered murder weapons.
They included a reproduction of a
Fairbairn-Sykes ‘fighting dagger’, a design
first made in 1941 for British special
forces and commando units, with a
17.4cm blade.
Two police constables rugby tackled Mair
to the ground and in the scuffle, he cut his
head.
Following his arrest, police uncovered a
hoard of neo-Nazi literature at his council
house in nearby Lowood Lane.
In pride of place on a bookshelf was a
golden Third Reich eagle ornament with a
swastika emblazoned on the front.
Mair, who had a teaching qualification and
a Kirklees college student card, was a
frequent visitor to Birstall and Batley
libraries.
An investigation of his use of library
computers exposed Mair’s interest in far
right, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi politics in
Britain and abroad.
Not only had he researched Mrs Cox, Mair
had also looked up another Yorkshire-
based Remainer MP, former Tory foreign
secretary William Hague.
Two days after the killing, Mair was
brought before Westminster magistrates
under the terrorism protocol.
When asked to confirm his name, the
defendant, described by neighbours as a
shy loner, said: ‘Death to traitors, freedom
for Britain’.
He has refused to answer to the charges
against him and not guilty pleas were
entered on his behalf to murder, grievous
bodily harm to Mr Kenny and possession
of the gun and dagger.
Having opted not to give evidence in the
trial or put forward any positive defence,
he was found guilty on all the charges.
Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told jurors
the murder brought out the best in Mrs
Cox, her aides and the general public who
tried to help – in stark contrast with the
killer.
Mr Whittam said: ‘The sheer brutality of
her murder and the utter cowardice of her
murder bring the two extremities of
humanity face to face.’
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