A jury at the Old Bailey court in London on Wednesday took just 90 minutes to find Thomas Mair, a white supremacist with links to a U.S. neo-Nazi group, guilty of murdering the British MP Jo Cox.The attack on the Labour politician, which took place on June 16 in the run-up to the referendum on leaving the EU, was described by the Crown Prosecution Service as “nothing less than acts of terrorism designed to advance his twisted ideology.” Mair pleaded not guilty to the charges but offered no defence during the seven-day trial.
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After the verdict was read out, Mair, who has never offered any explanation for his actions, attempted to address the court. However Mr. Justice Wilkie denied him permission to do so, and handed Mair a whole life sentence due to the “exceptional seriousness” of the offence.
Cox, who is survived by her husband Brendan and two children, was a passionate EU supporter. She had been arriving for a local constituency meeting when Mair repeatedly shot and stabbed the 41-year-old as he shouted “This is for Britain!” and “Keep Britain independent!”
Police found Nazi literature at Mair’s home as well as information about Cox. His online history showed he browsed far-right websites like the Occidental Observer as well as researching Nazi Germany and the Ku Klux Klan.