The white supremacist terrorist Thomas Mair has been jailed for life after he was found guilty of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
The 53-year-old shot and stabbed to death Cox in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on 16 June.
Mair was also found guilty of having a firearm with intent, causing grievous bodily harm with intent to 78-year-old Bernard Kenny, who tried to help the MP, and having an offensive weapon, namely a dagger.
Mair did not enter a plea and chose not to give any evidence in his defence.
In sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Wilkie said Mair had affected to be a patriot, but Mrs Cox was, in the true meaning of the word, a patriot. He described her as a wonderful mother, sister, daughter and companion, with a generosity of spirit that was apparent even when faced by a violent death.
Judge Mr Justice Wilkie said the murder was carried out to advance a political cause of violent white supremacism, associated with Nazism.
The judge said he had concluded the offence was so exceptional that it has to be marked with a whole life sentence and Mair could only be released by the home secretary.
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“It is evident from your internet searches that your inspiration is not love of country, it is an admiration for Nazis and similar anti-democratic white supremacist creeds,” Wilkie said.
The Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement: “Mair has offered no explanation for his actions but the prosecution was able to demonstrate that, motivated by hate, his pre-meditated crimes were nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology.”
Although Richard Whittam QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mair had committed a terrorism offence when he murdered Cox, he added that it had not been necessary to prosecute him as a terrorist.
There were two reasons for this. Mair was charged with murder, which is a crime under common law and not an offence under counter-terrorism legislation; and the jury was only to be asked to decide whether or not Mair had committed the crime of murder. It was not asked to consider his motivation.
