British Labour MP Jo Cox has died after an incident in her Yorkshire constituency – here is what we know: What happened Police were called to Market Street, Birstall in the Yorkshire constituency of J
British Labour MP Jo Cox has died after an incident in her Yorkshire constituency – here is what we know:
What happened
Police were called to Market Street, Birstall in the Yorkshire constituency of Jo Cox at 12:53pm UK time. They found the MP seriously injured as a result of multiple stab and gunshot wounds. Another man aged 77 was also slightly injured. Cox was taken to hospital where she subsequently died
They arrested a man, 52.
Witnesses said that a dispute had broken out as the MP talked to her constituents and a man had pulled out a gun. In an ensuing struggle they said Cox was shot and stabbed.
Some reports said that the man shouted “Britain First”, the name of a far right party.
Reactions
Both the Leave and Remain campaigns ahead of the UK’s referendum on EU membership next week were suspended.
Britain First said reports of any link between the party and the attacker were “hearsay”.
The party condemned the attack as a “despicable act of criminality”.
It's right that all campaigning has been stopped after the terrible attack on Jo Cox. I won't go ahead with tonight's rally in Gibraltar.
— David Cameron (
David_Cameron) <a href="https://twitter.com/David_Cameron/status/743450434224939008">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hoping, praying and thinking of Jo, Brendan and the children. GB</p>— Gordon & Sarah Brown (
OfficeGSBrown) June 16, 2016
Jo Cox was unusually free of the tribal pettiness of politics – always friendly, cheerful and kind to friend and foe alike. 1/2
— Nick Clegg (
nick_clegg) <a href="https://twitter.com/nick_clegg/status/743494938415988736">June 16, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Pauline & I are devastated to hear of Jo Cox's murder. A brilliant campaigner & local MP. Such a terrible loss to her family and to us all.</p>— John Prescott (
johnprescott) June 16, 2016
Who was Jo Cox?
A married mother of two young children, Cox had been an MP for just over a year. She was known for campaigning for stronger action particularly to help the child victims of the war in Syria.
Cambridge educated, she would have celebrated her 42nd birthday next week.
Her husband paid tribute to her and urged the country to unite following her death:
“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.
“She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her.”
— Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) June 16, 2016
When not in her native Yorkshire, the couple lived on a boat on the Thames in London.
She had begun her career working for Oxfam and other charities before turning to politics.
The suspected attacker
Thomas Mair, 52, lived on a housing estate in Yorkshire, just minutes away from where Jo Cox was killed.
He lived alone in the same house where he had spent his childhood.
The Daily Mail reported that he volunteered at “a local school”: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3645727/Timid-gardener-dogged-years-mental-turmoil-Jo-Cox-murder-suspect-volunteered-special-school-subscribed-South-African-pro-white-magazine.html
He had suggest to the Huddlesfield Daily Examiner in a 2010 article “that volunteering:“http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/jo-cox-dead-thomas-mair-suspect-south-africa-apartheid-a7086426.html was helping him address mental health issues.