ENGLAND, United k=Kingdom (AFP) — The family of murdered British lawmaker Jo Cox spoke of love, not hate after a man obsessed with Nazis and extreme right-wing ideas was sentenced to life in jail on Wednesday (November 23).
Cox was killed in a frenzied street attack which stunned Britain a week before the European Union referendum on June 16, 2016.
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.
“Thomas Mair is a cold-blooded killer,” said Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen from West Yorkshire Police outside the court.
“This was a murder motivated by Mair’s apparent political and ideological beliefs involving the use of a firearm and as such was an act of terrorism. Evidence of his interest in the extreme right-wing has been uncovered,” he said.
Jo’s husband, Brendan said: “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 their 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.”
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.
“The killing of Jo was a political act, an act of terrorism, 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,” said Cox’s widower.
Police pictures shown to the court of Mair’s house showed a sparsely furnished neat home with 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.
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
