Unemployed gardener, 53, given whole-life sentence for murder of MP that judge said was inspired by white supremacism

An extreme rightwing terrorist has been sentenced to prison for the rest of his life for the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox after a seven-day Old Bailey trial in which he made no effort to defend himself.

Thomas Mair repeatedly shot and stabbed Cox in an attack during the EU referendum campaign in June. While attacking her he was saying: “This is for Britain”, “keep Britain independent”, and “Britain first”, the court heard.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thomas Mair shot Jo Cox in the head with a sawn-off .22 hunting rifle and then stabbed her 15 times. Photograph: AP

The judge said Mair would have to serve a whole-life sentence due to the “exceptional seriousness” of the offence: a murder committed to advance a cause associated with Nazism.

Mr Justice Wilkie refused Mair’s request to address the court, saying he had already had opportunities to explain himself, and had not done so.

Jo Cox's friends say her energy for life was 'immeasurable' Read more

Cox, the judge told Mair, was not only a “passionate, open-hearted, inclusive and generous” person, but a true patriot. He, on the other hand “affected to be a patriot”.

“It is evident from your internet searches that your inspiration is not love of country or your fellow citizens, it is an admiration for Nazis and similar anti-democratic white supremacist creeds,” Wilkie said. “Our parents’ generation made huge sacrifices to defeat those ideas and values in the second world war. What you did … betrays those sacrifices.”

Mair had “betrayed the quintessence of our country, its adherence to parliamentary democracy”. By not having the courage to admit his crime, the judge added, he had forced the prosecution to prove their case in detail, which “no doubt deliberately”had increased the anguish of his victim’s family.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mobile phone footage shows police detaining Thomas Mair after the murder. Photograph: West Yorkshire police/PA

Mair struck on 16 June after Cox got out of a car in Birstall, a small market town in West Yorkshire that was part of her Batley and Spen constituency. He shot her twice in the head and once in the chest with a sawn-off .22 hunting rifle before stabbing her 15 times.

The MP died shortly afterwards in the back of an ambulance, despite emergency surgery. She was 41, and the mother of two children, then aged five and three.

The slow-burning hatred that led Thomas Mair to murder Jo Cox Read more

Evidence quickly gathered by police, including books found at Mair’s home and an examination of his online activities, showed him to be obsessed with the Nazis, notions of white supremacy and apartheid-era South Africa.

He underwent an examination by a psychiatrist, who could find no evidence that he was not responsible for his actions as a consequence of poor mental health.

My friend Jo Cox was assassinated, but her legacy will be to unite communities | Stephen Kinnock Read more

Mair was also found guilty of grievous bodily harm against a passerby, Bernard Carter-Kenny, a retired coal miner who was stabbed when he came to Cox’s aid, possession of a firearm with intent and possession of a dagger. The jury took just over 90 minutes to reach its verdicts.

Mair showed no reaction as the judge denied his request to address the court and was led to the cells. Brendan Cox, the MP’s grieving husband, watched as other family members hugged and wiped away tears.

Earlier, Mair had rolled his eyes as Brendan Cox read a statement to the court in which he paid tribute to his wife and said the family had no interest in her killer.

“We feel nothing but pity for him; that his life was so devoid of love that his only way of finding meaning was to attack a defenceless woman who represented the best of our country in an act of supreme cowardice.”

Speaking outside the Old Bailey after the verdicts, he added: “To the world, Jo was a member of parliament, a campaigner, an activist and many other things. But first and foremost she was a sister, a daughter, an auntie, a wife, and above all a mum to two young children who love her with all their being.

“All their lives they have been enveloped in her love, excited by her energy and inspired by her example. We try now not to focus on how unlucky we were to have her taken from us, but how lucky we were to have her in our lives for so long.”

He also thanked the hundreds of people – on the day of the murder, and the weeks that followed – for their bravery and compassion. “This has been Britain at its best – compassionate, courageous and kind. It’s given us great strength and solace.”

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the murder was “an attack on democracy, and has robbed the world of an ambassador of kindness and compassion”.

Amber Rudd, the home secretary, said the murder was a “shocking and senseless” attack on the values of democracy and tolerance. “I am determined that we challenge extremism in all its forms including the evil of far-right extremism and the terrible damage it can cause to individuals, families and communities.”

After the verdicts, Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter-terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Mair has offered no explanation for his actions but the prosecution was able to demonstrate that, motivated by hate, his premeditated crimes were nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology.”

Following the verdicts, Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mair had committed a terrorism offence when he murdered Cox, although the jury had not been told that he was regarded as a terrorist.

There were two reasons for this. Mair was charged with murder, which is a crime under common law and not an offence under counter-terrorism legislation; and the jury was only to be asked to decide whether or not Mair had committed the crime of murder. It was not asked to consider his motivation.

Prosecutors acknowledge privately that the febrile atmosphere in which the EU referendum campaign was waged appears certain to have contributed to Mair’s decision to murder his MP, but this played no part in their case. There was no need to refer to the referendum in order to establish his guilt.

The evidence against the 53-year-old unemployed gardener had been overwhelming. He lived in Birstall and witnesses to the attack included people who had known him all his life. The incident was also captured on CCTV, as was his escape.

Police later found that a library of far-right literature in his bedroom, including books on the Nazis and white supremacism. On top of the bookshelf was a gold-coloured Third Reich eagle with a swastika.

Examination of his browsing history revealed that he had been searching for material about the British national party, apartheid, the Ku Klux Klan, prominent Jewish people, Israel and matricide.

In his closing speech, Whittam said Cox had been the victim of a cowardly attack. “The sheer brutality of her murder and the utter cowardice of her murderer bring the two extremities of humanity face to face,” he said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The sawn-off hunting rifle Thomas Mair used to murder Jo Cox. Photograph: West Yorkshire police/PA

Mair never admitted the offences, but nor did he deny them. When he appeared at the Old Bailey last month via videolink from Belmarsh prison in south-east London, he refused to enter a plea. He made clear that he could see and hear what was happening in court, but when asked how he pleaded, he stared down the camera and said nothing. During the trial he did not offer a defence.

As a consequence, not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf to all four charges, as required by law.

Each day during the trial, Mair remained immobile and impassive, staring straight ahead and rarely looking around. He used a notepad, but instead of making notes about the trial, he could be seen to be writing down the names of people in court whom he recognised: a TV journalist, an MP from a neighbouring constituency and a member of Cox’s family.

It was, an observer said, as though he was recording the identities of the people who had come to see him have his day in court.

Speaking from the witness box after the verdict had been announced Cox’s husband said Mair had failed. “The killing of Jo was in my view a political act, an act of terrorism,” he told the court. “But in the history of such acts it was perhaps the most incompetent and self-defeating. An act driven by hatred, which instead has created an outpouring of love. An act designed to drive communities apart which has instead pulled them together. An act designed to silence a voice which instead has allowed millions of others to hear it.



“Jo is no longer with us, but her love, her example and her values live on. For the rest of our lives we will not lament how unlucky we were to have her taken from us, but how unbelievably lucky we were to have her in our lives for so long.”</s>An extreme rightwing terrorist has been sentenced to prison for the rest of his life for the murder of the Labour MP Jo Cox after a seven-day Old Bailey trial in which he made no effort to defend himself.

Thomas Mair repeatedly shot and stabbed Cox in an attack during the EU referendum campaign in June last year. While attacking her he was saying “this is for Britain”, “keep Britain independent”, and “Britain first”, the court heard.

The judge said Mair would have to serve a whole-life sentence due to the “exceptional seriousness” of the offence.

Mr Justice Wilkie refused a request from Mair for an opportunity to address the

 court, saying he had already plenty of chances to explain himself, and

 had not done so.

Cox, the judge told Mair, was not only a “passionate, open-hearted, inclusive and generous” person, but a true patriot. He, on the other hand “affected patriotism” and admired the Nazis.



“It is evident from your internet searches that your inspiration is not love of country, it is an admiration for Nazis and similar anti-democratic white supremacist creeds,” Wilkie said.



The crime, he added, had been inspired by “white supremacism and exclusive nationalism, which is associated with nazism in its modern forms”.



Mair attacked Cox on 16 June after she got out of a car in Birstall, a small market town in West Yorkshire that was part of her Batley and Spen constituency. Mair shot her twice in the head and once in the chest with a sawn-off .22 hunting rifle before stabbing her 15 times.

The MP died shortly afterwards in the back of an ambulance, despite emergency surgery. She was 41, and the mother of two children, then aged five and three.

Evidence quickly gathered by the police, including books found at Mair’s home and an examination of his online activities, showed him to be obsessed with the Nazis, notions of white supremacy and apartheid-era South Africa.

Mair was also found guilty of grievous bodily harm against a passerby who was stabbed when he came to Cox’s aid, possession of a firearm with intent and possession of a dagger. The jury took just over 90 minutes to reach its verdicts.

Mair showed no reaction as the judge denied his request to address the court and was led to the cells. Brendan Cox, the MP’s grieving husband, watched as other family members hugged and wiped away tears.

After the guilty verdict Brendan Cox paid tribute to his wife. He said the family had “no interest in the perpetrator”.

“We only feel pity for him,” he said. “We are here because we want to tell you about Jo. What she was and what she meant to us.”

He said Jo was “interested in everybody, driven not by her ego but her desire to help” and although a fearless and committed campaigner who loved being the MP for her home town, her role as mother of two children always came first. He said the killing was an incompetent political act born out of hate that had instead caused a huge outpouring of love towards Jo and her family.

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the murder was “an attack on democracy, and has robbed the world of an ambassador of kindness and compassion”. 



After the verdicts, Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Mair has offered no explanation for his actions but the prosecution was able to demonstrate that, motivated by hate, his pre-meditated crimes were nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology.”

Following the verdicts, Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mair had committed a terrorism offence when he murdered Cox, but added that it had not been necessary to prosecute him as a terrorist.

There were two reasons for this. Mair was charged with murder, which is a crime under common law and not an offence under counter-terrorism legislation; and the jury was only to be asked to decide whether or not Mair had committed the crime of murder. It was not asked to consider his motivation.

Prosecutors acknowledge privately that the febrile atmosphere in which the EU referendum campaign was waged appears certain to have contributed to Mair’s decision to murder his MP, but this played no part in their case. There was no need to refer to the referendum in order to establish his guilt.

The evidence against the 53-year-old unemployed gardener had been overwhelming. He lived in Birstall and witnesses to the attack included people who had known him all his life. The incident was also captured on CCTV, as was his escape.

In his closing speech, Whittam said Cox had been the victim of a cowardly attack. “The sheer brutality of her murder and the utter cowardice of her murderer bring the two extremities of humanity face to face,” he said.

Mair was also charged with the grievous bodily harm of Bernard Carter-Kenny, 77, a retired coal miner who was stabbed in the stomach after going to Cox’s assistance.

Mair listened impassively as Whittam read a statement by Carter-Kenny, who said his life had been turned upside down. “Anxiety and stress were strangers to me,” he wrote. Carter-Kenny said he wakes in the night, worrying about what the future might hold.

Mair never denied the offences, but neither did he admit to them. When he appeared at the Old Bailey last month via video link from Belmarsh prison in south-east London, he refused to enter a plea. He made clear that he could see and hear what was happening in court, but when asked how he pleaded, he stared down the camera and said nothing. During the trial he did not offer a defence.

As a consequence, not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf to all four charges, as required by law.



Russell Flint QC, the defence counsel, said Cox had been brutally and callously murdered and her death had had a huge impact on hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, including her husband, parents and young children. He said it was the jury’s duty to decide whether Mair was responsible beyond reasonable doubt. “It is you and you alone who have been charged with the responsibility in determining what are the true verdicts in each of the counts on the indictment.”

Each day during the trial, Mair remained immobile and impassive, staring straight ahead and rarely looking around. He used a notepad, but instead of making notes about the trial, he could be seen to be writing down the names of people in court whom he recognised: a TV journalist, an MP from a neighbouring constituency and a member of Cox’s family.

It was, an observer said, as though he was recording the identities of the people who had come to see him have his day in court.</s>Thomas Mair, who gunned down Labour MP Jo Cox, has been found guilty of murder following a trial at the Old Bailey.

Far-right extremist Thomas Mair has been found guilty of murdering the Batley and Spen MP after shooting and stabbing her to death outside a constituency surgery.

It took the jury one hour and 26 minutes to convict Mair of murdering Mrs Cox.

Mair was given a whole life sentence by the judge. He showed no emotion.

Mr Justice Wilkie told Mair that Mrs Cox was the "true patriot" and not him.

Mair's murderous attack on the MP was "brutal and ruthless", the judge said.

Mair, from Birstall, was also found guilty of possession of a firearm with intent and causing grievous bodily harm by stabbing 78-year-old Bernard Kenny in the abdomen as he tried to save Mrs Cox.

Mr Kenny said in a statement that he would do the same thing again as it was "the right thing to do", even though his actions were not enough to save Mrs Cox.

The 53-year-old Nazi fanatic repeatedly shouted “Britain First” as he ambushed the mum-of-two outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

The brave MP told two staff members “let him hurt me, don’t let him hurt you” as she was shot three times and stabbed 15 times on June 16.

Mair had spent the weeks leading up to the murder researching far-right extremists including the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik.

Jo Cox’s alleged killer had ‘Third Reich Eagle ornament, Nazi and Hitler books, dossier on Labour MP at home’

He also read material on the murder of MP Ian Gow by the IRA in 1990 as well as compiling a dossier on the pro-Remain campaigner.

As Thomas Mair shot and stabbed Jo Cox in the street, brave witnesses tried to fend off his attack.

Have-a-go-hero Bernard Kenny was stabbed as he tried to stop Mair from murdering the MP, while Mrs Cox's personal assistant, Fazila Aswat, used her handbag to hit him.

Others were threatened with violence as they attempted to intervene.

The MP's husband, Brendan Cox, told the Old Bailey he was not there for "retribution" and felt "nothing but pity for" Thomas Mair.</s>A far-right extremist was on Wednesday sentenced to life by a British court after he was found guilty of the “planned and pre-meditated murder” of Labour MP Jo Cox during the Brexit campaign.

Thomas Mair, who believed in white supremacy and had Nazi material stocked in his home, repeatedly shot and stabbed Cox during the EU referendum campaign.

Mair was convicted by a jury of murdering the 41-year-old Cox outside her West Yorkshire constituency surgery on June 16, a week before the UK’s referendum.

The 53-year-old, dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, remained impassive as the verdicts were read out, after an hour of deliberations on Wednesday.

The trial judge, Justice Wilkie, said the murder was carried out to “advance a political cause of violent white supremacism, associated with Nazism“.

“It is evident from your internet searches that your inspiration is not love of country, it is an admiration for Nazis and similar anti-democratic white supremacist creed,” he told Mair.

The judge said he had concluded the offence was so exceptional that it has to be marked with a whole life sentence, which means Mair can only be released by an exceptional order by the UK’s home secretary.

The killer had spent the weeks leading up to the murder researching far-right extremists including the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik.

He also read material on the murder of MP Ian Gow by the Irish Republican Army in 1990 as part of compiling a dossier on Cox, a campaigner for the Remain camp in the EU referendum.

After the guilty verdict, Brendan Cox paid tribute to his wife and said the family had “no interest in the perpetrator.”

“We only feel pity for him... we are here because we want to tell you about Jo. What she was and what she meant to us,” he said.

Cox is also survived by her two young children, aged five and three.

Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counter terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Mair has offered no explanation for his actions but the prosecution was able to demonstrate that, motivated by hate, his pre-meditated crimes were nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology.”

Earlier, the murder trial had heard how Mair shouted “Britain first, this is for Britain” over Cox’s body after shooting her three times and inflicting 15 stab wounds.</s>A man obsessed with Nazis and extreme right-wing ideas was sentenced to life in jail on Wednesday for the murder of British lawmaker Jo Cox in a frenzied street attack which stunned Britain a week before the European Union referendum.

Thomas Mair, 53, shot Cox three times and repeatedly stabbed the 41-year-old mother of two young children in her northern English electoral district.

During the attack on June 16, he shouted “Britain first” and “Keep Britain independent” his trial heard, and when arrested he told officers he was a political activist.

Her murder shocked Britain, elicited condolences from leaders around the world and led to the suspension for several days of campaigning ahead of the EU vote which had become increasingly ugly and laced with personal recriminations.

Mair, slight of build and balding with a grey goatee beard, had refused to enter a plea or speak in his defence at the Old Bailey trial, which was treated as a terrorism case.

He asked to make a statement only after the jury unanimously returned a guilty verdict but judge Alan Wilkie refused.

“You are no patriot,” Wilkie told him. “By your actions you have betrayed the quintessence of our country: its adherence to parliamentary democracy.”

He added: “It is clear ... that your inspiration is not love of country or your fellow citizens, it is an admiration for Nazism and similar anti-democratic white supremacist creeds.”

Mair, who had no criminal record, was also convicted of grievous bodily harm after he stabbed a 77-year-old man who had gone to Cox’s aid during the attack.

Cox had only been in parliament for little more than a year, easily winning the seat for the opposition Labour party in the area where she grew up.

Mair’s neighbours said he had lived in a unremarkable semi-detached house in Birstall, West Yorkshire, for 20 years, that he was a loner who spent much of his time in his garden and would occasionally mow their lawns for them.

He was “very quiet, very shy” neighbour Katie Greene told the court. She said she didn’t see him have any visitors. Other witnesses said he did not talk much or make eye contact.

Police pictures following a search showed a sparsely furnished neat house with barely any food in the kitchen and single beds in the bedrooms.

But there were clear signs of his far-right leanings.

On top of a bookcase in one of the bedrooms, detectives found a Third Reich eagle ornament with a swastika on it while on neatly organised shelves were dozens of books about German military history, Nazi race theory and white supremacism.

An analysis of his internet usage on computers in local libraries also showed his obsession with the far right.

In the days and months before the attack, he had read articles about the extreme right-wing British National Party, the Ku Klux Klan and Dylann Roof, the man accused of killing nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina.

He had also looked up the Wikipedia entry for Ian Gow, the last British lawmaker to have been killed before Cox, in 1990.

Speaking after the case, Cox’s husband Brendan called the killing an act of terrorism.

“To the person who did this, we have nothing but pity that his life was devoid of love and consumed with hatred that this became his desperate and cowardly attempt to find meaning,” he said in a statement.

“The killing of Jo was a political act, an act of terrorism,” he added.</s>Thomas Mair showed no emotion as he was found guilty of the murder of Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox and jailed for life.

Jurors at the Old Bailey had also found the 53-year-old guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to commit murder, possession of an offensive weapon – a dagger – and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Bernard Carter Kenny.

Mr Kenny, 77, had tried to intervene when he saw Mair attacking 41-year-old Mrs Cox outside Birstall Library on June 16.

Follow live updates from our reporter at The Old Bailey

Sentencing Mair to a whole life term, Justice Mr Wilkie said: “Because she was a member of parliament your crime has an additional dimension that calls for particular punishment.”

“In the true meaning of the word she was a patriot. You affect to be a patriot.

“You are no patriot. By your actions you have betrays the quintessence of our country - parliamentary democracy.”

He added that Mair had not had the courage to admit what he had done.

Prosecutor Richard Whittam, QC, said it has always been the Crown’s case that Mrs Cox’s murder was a “politically motivated killing”.

The court heard judge Mr Justice Wilkie can impose a life sentence, but would have to impose a minimum term.

It stated: “What you did to me that Thursday afternoon not only threatened my life but changed me as a person and all those around me.”

Mrs Cox’s widower, Brendan Cox, took to the stand to deliver a statement.

He had been in court with Mrs Cox’s parents, Gordon and Jean Leadbeater, and sister, Kim Leadbeater, this morning.

Mr Cox said: “We have no interest in the perpetrator. We only feel pity for him... we are here because we want to tell you about Jo. What she was and what she meant to us.

“Jo was interested in everybody, driven not by her ego but her desire to help. She was connected to her community and proud of the world.”

He told the court that he believed her killing was an act of terrorism.

Jo’s death was an act of terrorism, her widower tells court

Mair, of Lowood Lane, Birstall, shot and stabbed mother-of-two Mrs Cox as she arrived at the library in West Yorkshire for a surgery on June 16, a week before the EU referendum.

The court heard he shouted “Britain first”, had a stash of neo-Nazi material at his home and had collected a dossier on Mrs Cox, who was supporting the Remain campaign.

At the conclusion of the prosecution case, Mair’s barrister Simon Russell Flint, QC, called no evidence on behalf of Mair.

Bringing the prosecution case to a close yesterday, Richard Whittam, QC, said: “The sheer brutality of her murder and the utter cowardice of her murderer bring the two extremities of humanity face to face.”

He went on to detail the initial attack on the Batley and Spen MP by defendant Thomas Mair.

He said: “Most likely Jo Cox was shot once in the head followed by a brutal attack with a dagger.

“Despite the element of surprise and the inequality of arms he failed. Perhaps he underestimated the courage and tenacity of Jo Cox.”</s>London (CNN) A 53-year-old man with extreme right wing views has been jailed for life after being convicted of killing British politician Jo Cox in a frenzied street attack in northern England in June 2016.

Thomas Mair was found guilty of murder and of grievous bodily harm with intent, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offense and possession of an offensive weapon.

The Labour MP was stabbed and shot by Mair, days before Britain voted on whether to remain in the European Union -- Cox, 41, was a prominent supporter of the "Remain" campaign.

When he f irst appeared in court , Mair shouted " my name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain ." He declined to take the stand during his trial at the Old Bailey in London.

The judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, sentenced Mair to a whole-life term. "You are no patriot," he told Mair. "By your actions, you have betrayed the quintessence of our country, its adherence to parliamentary democracy."

Sue Hemming, Head of Special Crime and Counter Terrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said Mair's premeditated crimes were "motivated by hate ... nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology."

Seen as a rising star of British politics and respected across the political spectrum, Cox, who had two children, campaigned to keep the UK in the EU, celebrated diversity, championed the rights of immigrants and was an advocate of women's and children's issues.

The court heard that Mair, a Nazi sympathizer, stabbed her, shot her once in the head and once in the chest with a rifle and then stabbed her again with a dagger.

His victim cried out: "Let him hurt me, don't let him hurt you," and despite the efforts of a bystander and paramedics she died later, according to news agency CourtNewsUK.

At his home at Lowood Lane in Birstall, police found an extensive collection of Nazi memorabilia and books, a dossier on Cox; and at his local library they found evidence of Internet searches for extreme right wing material and the gun he planned to use, the agency reported.

No evidence was offered on his behalf, and his barrister Russell Flint QC made only a very short speech saying Mair's fate was in the hands of the jury, the agency said.

Cox's death drew tributes from all sides, with the then Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron telling lawmakers: "She had a huge heart. She was a very compassionate, caring MP. She was a bright star -- no doubt about it." He also praised her "great track record of caring about refugees."

After the verdict was announced, Corbyn posted on Twitter: "The single biggest tribute we can pay to Jo Cox will be to confront those who wish to promote the hatred and division that led to her murder."

Her husband Brendan said Cox "lit up our lives" and called for unity to ensure that "those ... who seek to divide us will face an unassailable wall of British tolerance."

Before the trial, the widower said Cox had become increasingly worried that politics was getting more extreme and "too tribal."

"While we celebrate our diversity, what surprises me time and time again as I travel around the constituency is that we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us," she told fellow lawmakers.

Cox was killed by Mair outside a meeting with her constituents in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

At an earlier hearing, prosecutor David Cawthorne said Mair also stabbed 78-year-old passer-by Bernard Carter-Kenny who scrambled out of his vehicle to help the MP. He suffered a serious abdomen injury.

Carter-Kenny was too ill to attend the Old Bailey to give evidence, but told the court in a statement that he tried to jump on Mair's back and "take him down," according to CourtNewsUK.

The court heard that unarmed police officers tackled Mair, who told them: "It's me. I'm a political activist," the agency said.

Sue Hemming, speaking on behalf of the CPS, praised the actions of "several people [who] courageously intervened to try and save Ms Cox," and of the "brave eye witnesses" who spoke out at the trial.

He also subscribed to a pro-apartheid group's magazine in the 1980s, the magazine's editor told CNN.

Mair was handed a whole life sentence, which means he can only ever be released upon the orders of the UK Home Secretary.</s>Thomas Mair showed no emotion today as he was found guilty of the murder of Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox and jailed for life.

Jurors at the Old Bailey had also found the 53-year-old guilty of possession of a firearm with intent to commit murder, possession of an offensive weapon – a dagger – and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Bernard Carter Kenny.

Mr Kenny, now 78, had heroically tried to intervene when he saw Mair attacking 41-year-old Mrs Cox outside Birstall Library on June 16.

Mair may have planned a ‘spectacular’ by killing more victims with stolen weapon

Devoid of love and consumed by hatred: Brendan Cox on the man who killed his wife

Video: Jo Cox’s family hail the ‘many acts of bravery’ in Birstall

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn described the killing as ‘an attack on democracy’

How a day of horror unfolded on the streets of Birstall

How community in Birstall coped in wake of MP’s murder

Why the Yorkshire Evening Post WILL NOT publish an image of Mair on the front page tomorrow

Harrowing evidence will stay with us all</s>LONDON — A white supremacist who shot and stabbed a pro-European U.K. lawmaker while shouting “Britain first” was convicted of murder by a jury on Wednesday.

Judge Alan Wilkie sentenced Thomas Mair to life without parole for killing Jo Cox, in what prosecutors called an act of terrorism.

The 41-year-old Labour member of Parliament was attacked in June outside a library as she prepared to meet residents of the area she represented in northern England.

The murder, a week before Britain’s referendum on European Union membership, shocked the country. Cox was the first British lawmaker killed in office in a quarter of a century.

Jurors at London’s Central Criminal Court deliberated for less than two hours before unanimously finding 53-year-old Mair guilty of firing three shots at Cox with a sawed-off .22 rifle and stabbing her 15 times.

The defendant did not visibly react as he was convicted of murdering Cox and wounding 77-year-old Bernard Kenny, a passer-by who was stabbed as he tried to stop the attack. Mair was also found guilty of having a gun and a dagger.

Cox had been a prominent voice arguing for Britain to remain in the EU, during a divisive and often angry referendum campaign that focused heavily on the issue of immigration.

At his first court hearing, Mair gave his name as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.” Prosecutors said his home was full of Nazi literature and memorabilia, and his computer revealed an interest in far right, anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi politics.

Jurors were told that Mair had pleaded not guilty, but his lawyers presented no evidence in his defence.

Mair, who did not speak during his trial, asked to address the court after the verdict. The judge refused.

Wilkie said the murder had been carried out to advance a political cause “of violent white supremacism associated with Nazism.”

He said Mair pretended to be a patriot — but that Jo Cox was the true patriot.

Sue Hemming, head of special crime and counterterrorism at the Crown Prosecution Service, said Mair’s crimes “were nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology.”

Cox’s widower Brendan Cox told the court the family did not seek retribution against her killer.

“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,” Cox said.</s>LONDON (AP) — A white supremacist who shot and stabbed a pro-European U.K. lawmaker while shouting “Britain first” was convicted of murder by a jury on Wednesday.

A judge said Thomas Mair would serve life without parole for killing Jo Cox. The 41-year-old Labour member of Parliament was attacked in June outside a library as she prepared to meet residents of the area she represented in northern England.

The murder, a week before Britain’s referendum on European Union membership, shocked the country.

Jurors at London’s Central Criminal Court deliberated for less than two hours before finding 53-year-old Mair guilty of firing three shots at Cox with a sawn-off .22 rifle and stabbing her 15 times.

The defendant did not visibly react as he was convicted of murdering Cox and wounding 77-year-old Bernard Kenny, a passer-by who came to the lawmaker’s assistance. Mair was also found guilty of having a gun and a dagger.

Cox had been a prominent voice arguing for Britain to remain in the EU, during a divisive and often angry referendum campaign that focused heavily on the issue of immigration.

At his first court hearing, Mair gave his name as “death to traitors, freedom for Britain.” Prosecutors said his home was full of Nazi literature and memorabilia.

Jurors were told that Mair had pleaded not guilty, but his lawyers presented no evidence in his defense.

After the verdict, Cox’s widower Brendan Cox told the court the family did not seek 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,” Cox said.
White supremacist Thomas Mair is found guilty of the murder of British Member of Parliament Jo Cox and is sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.