Jo Cox’s husband pays emotional tribute as thousands join him and his kids on what would have been murdered MP’s 42nd birthday

MURDERED Jo Cox’s widower Brendan led emotional tributes to her as events took place around the world to celebrate her life on what would have been her 42nd birthday.

Speaking in front of thousands of people in Trafalgar Square Mr Cox told the crowd he had come to say how much the love and support of well-wishers meant to him.

And he said he wanted his two children Cuillin and Lejla how well loved their mother was.

He said: “She just wanted people to be happy and for the world to be a fairer place, that’s where her politics came from.

“When she saw pain she wanted to do all she could to alleviate it.

“Jo lived her life to the full, with a pedal to the floor with missing brake pads.

“She was a mountain climber, a runner, a cyclist, an avid reader, an awful cook, a swimmer, a great exaggerator, a wild food forager, a middle lane driver, a ball of energy and determination, and above all else she was a mum.

“She was the best mum that any child could wish for and wish we do, to have her back in our lives.

“Since Thursday Cuillin, Lejla and I have spoken every day about the things we will miss, the memories we will cherish.

“We try to remember not how cruelly she has been taken from us but how unbelievably lucky we were to have her in our lives for so long.”

Organisers said the events, being held in a variety of locations, are a tribute to Mrs Cox's "love, energy, passion, flair, Yorkshire heritage and belief in the humanity of every person in every place".

The band that played at the couple's wedding, Diddley Dee, performed and a group of the MP's friends formed an honour guard dressed in suffragette-style sashes.

Leaders of multiple faiths laid some 42 white roses, the symbol of Yorkshire, to mark her birthday at the event, hosted by Mrs Cox's friend, Mariella Frostrup.

Giving speeches in memory of the murdered MP were the Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and actors Gillian Anderson and Bill Nighy.

Her life was also commemorated at the Glastonbury Festival this afternoon.

Revellers stopped and held an impromptu two minute silence to pay their respects to the murdered Labour politician.

To get to the event in Trafalgar Square Mr Cox and his children led a flotilla of houseboats from the community where they live.

And to commemorate the Yorkshire MP, a boat called the Yorkshire Rose was filled with flowers in memory of her and towed along as part of the flotilla.

The family of Jo Cox made an emotional journey along the Thames, towing a boat full of flowers in her memory

Holding his dad's hand Cuillin Cox makes his way to the service to celebrate his mother, the murdered MP Jo Cox who would have been 42 today

A fund created in Cox's memory by her friends and family has raised more than £1.25million for charities close to her heart, following more than 37,500 individual donations.

Mrs Cox was shot and stabbed in the street last Thursday in her Batley and Spen constituency in West Yorkshire, where there will also be a commemoration with her sister Kim Leadbeater.

The murder of Mrs Cox, who was campaigning for Britain to stay in the European Union and was a major advocate for refugee rights, shook the EU referendum campaign and sent shock waves around the world.

The commemorations began less than 18 hours before the polls open in Britain's closely-contested referendum on whether it should stay in the EU or leave.

Widower Brendan Cox, in his first interview since his wife's murder, said he thought she was murdered due to her political beliefs.

"She was a politician and she had very strong political views and I believe she was killed because of those views," he told BBC television.

"I think she died because of them, and she would want to stand up for those in death as much as she did in life."

He also said she had "worried" about the tone of the EU referendum debate -- "the tone of whipping up fears and whipping up hatred potentially".

Hers was the first murder of a British politician since 1990 when Ian Gow was assassinated by Irish Republican Army paramilitaries.

Thomas Mair, 52, has been charged with Cox's murder.

On his first appearance in court on Saturday, he gave his name as "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain".

A psychiatric report was requested.