Thomas Mair Guilty of Murdering MP Jo Cox

Thomas Mair has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering Labour MP Jo Cox in June this year.

Mair repeatedly shot and stabbed the MP in the week leading up to the EU referendum after she got out of her car in the small market town of Birstall in her Batley and Spen constituency.

He shot her twice in the head and once in the chest before stabbing her 15 times.

Mair refused to defend himself at the seven-day trial at the Old Bailey in London, during which prosecution QC Richard Whittam described him as cowardly.

“The sheer brutality of her murder and the utter cowardice of her murderer bring the two extremities of humanity face to face,” The Guardian quotes him as saying.

Mair was found guilty of the murder of Jo Cox, the grievous bodily harm of Bernard Carter-Kenny – a retired coal miner who had gone to help – possession of a firearm with intent to commit an offence, and possession of a dagger.

He refused to enter a plea at the start of the trial, and neither denied nor admitted to committing the crimes throughout.

Sentencing Mair, the judge Mr Justice Wilkie said: “By your actions you have betrayed the quintessence of our country, its reliance on Parliamentary democracy.

“There is no doubt that this murder was done to advance the cause of violent white nationalism.

“It was a vicious ruthless and determined attack. You returned to inflict further injuries on Jo when it seemed she might survive.”