Pro-Brexit ‘terrorist’ jailed for life for murdering British lawmaker Jo Cox
A far-right extremist was on Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of release for murdering British MP Jo Cox a week before the European Union referendum in a “politically motivated” attack.
We have no interest in the perpetrator, we only feel pity for him
The court earlier heard that Mair shouted “Britain first” as he fired three shots at the lawmaker and stabbed her 15 times. Following the verdict, Cox’s husband Brendan called the murder “a political act and an act of terrorism”.
“We have no interest in the perpetrator, we only feel pity for him,” he added. “Jo was interested in everybody, driven not by her ego but her desire to help.”
Investigators found an extensive collection of books on German military history, the Holocaust and Nazi race theory and a statue of a bust of the eagle of Germany’s Third Reich when they searched Mair’s Birstall home. Mair had also accessed the Wikipedia page of “far right” online publication Occidental Observer and the Twitter and Wikipedia pages for Cox.
The court heard that Mair had asked the question “Is a .22 round deadly enough to kill with one shot to a human head?” during one internet search. The killing of Cox, who had defended immigration and refugee rights, shocked Britain and led to a three-day suspension in campaigning ahead of the EU referendum one week later.
