Nazi sympathiser guilty of murdering UK MP Jo Cox

  • 24/11/2016
A woman holds a placard and white roses during a special service for murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox (Reuters / file)
A woman holds a placard and white roses during a special service for murdered Labour Party MP Jo Cox (Reuters / file)

The man who murdered British Member of Parliament Jo Cox in the run-up to June's referendum on EU membership has been sentenced to life in prison and told he will never be released.

Thomas Mair, 53, shot Cox three times and repeatedly stabbed her as the 41-year-old mother of two arrived at a library for an advice session with local residents in the town of Birstall, part of her electoral district in northern England.

Jurors at the Old Bailey court had heard he had shouted something like "Keep Britain independent" and "Britain first" during the attack.

They took just 90 minutes to convict Mair on Wednesday (local tim), who had been charged under anti-terrorism legislation.

Judge Alan Wilkie denied a request by Mair to speak after the verdict and told him: "You are no patriot. By your actions you have betrayed the quintessence of our country: its adherence to parliamentary democracy."

Reuters