Who killed MP Jo Cox and where is Thomas Mair now?
IN 2016 Thomas Mair killed Labour MP Jo Cox in broad daylight in an attack that shocked the nation.
Mum of two Cox was brutally murdered by the "loner" gunman just days before the EU referendum.
Who is Thomas Mair, Jo Cox's killer?
Thomas Mair was an unemployed gardener when he killed Labour MP Cox in a "planned and pre-meditated murder".
White supremacist Mair was brought up by his maternal grandmother Helen Mair.
He was born on August 12, 1963, in Kilmarnock, Scotland.
Helen Mair died in 1996, leaving Thomas living alone at a property close to the scene of Cox's shooting in Birstall.
Where is Thomas Mair now?
Mair is serving a whole life sentence, which was handed to him at the Old Bailey in November 2016.
He's understood to be locked up in County Durham, where he has a single cell in the high-security jail.
The judge at Mair's sentencing spoke of the "exceptional seriousness" of Mair's crimes, and said his offence was so grave he could only be freed by the Secretary of State.
Mair is believed to be one of 70 prisoners serving a whole-life tariff in the UK.
Peter Sutcliffe, Ian Brady, Dale Cregan and Michael Adebolajo are amongst the other criminals who have been give a whole-life tariff.
Mair has reportedly become a "withdrawn, haunted figure" since his incarceration, with a source telling the in 2017: "Mair was a loner outside prison – and he is a loner inside.
"In some respects he is a model prisoner – always obeying commands and giving no trouble. He has no interest in other inmates or officers and categorically refuses to speak about his crime.
"Plenty have tried to talk to him about it but he just walks away."
What happened to Jo Cox?
Ms Cox was making her way to a constituency meeting on Market Street, Birstall, on on June 16, 2016 when she was attacked.
She was shot three times through her hands as she tried to protect her head, after suffering knife wounds to her heart, lungs, stomach and liver.
Heroically, Cox warned her two aides to stay back and told them "let him hurt me, don’t let him hurt you" as Mair carried out his attack.
In 2023 Ms Cox's sister Kim Leadbeater paid tribute to her sibling and spoke to Fabulous about how she went into politics herself after her murder.
Ms Leadbeater even represents the same seat for Labour as her late sister.
She also, on the seventh anniversary of Ms Cox's death, urged politicians to "take responsibility" for an environment that she said is "still very toxic" with "huge amounts of division" and "huge amounts of anger".
What were Mair's political views?
Mair was arrested around 30 minutes after he killed Cox and told police he was a "political activist".
He was found with a leaflet in his bag from the pro-EU Britain Stronger in Europe campaign, which Cox supported, and was heard shouting: "This is for Britain, Britain will always come first."
Another witness said the killer shouted: "We're British independence" and "Keep Britain independent".
A jury later heard Mair had looked up Tory Ian Gow — the last sitting MP murdered when he was killed by the IRA in 1990 — and Tory Yorkshire MP William Hague, who also backed Remain, before carrying out his attack.
He also carried out internet searches on a "far-right" internet publication, the Ku Klux Klan and whether his .22 gun was "deadly enough to kill with one shot to a human's head".
He looked at Nazi material, the act of killing one's mother, the death penalty in Japan and serial killers, the court heard.
The night before he killed Ms Cox he also looked up coffins, lying in state and the Waffen SS.
What did police find in Mair's home?
A trial heard that police found a Third Reich golden eagle featuring a swastika in Mair's home, as well as Nazi badges, a "Deutschland" cap, and far-right and white supremacist books and magazines.
He also had the books March Of The Titans: A History Of White Race And SS Race Theory and Mate Selection Guidelines on his bookshelves, as well as press cuttings on Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik and a dossier on Cox.
Why did Thomas Mair kill Jo Cox?
Ms Cox was murdered because of Mair's political views.
During his murder trial, the judge remarked: "There is no doubt that this murder was done for the purpose of advancing a political, racial and ideological cause namely that of violent white supremacism and exclusive nationalism most associated with Nazism and its modern forms."
When asked to confirm his name early in the case, Mair said: "Death to traitors, freedom for Britain."
Mair was once a supporter of the National Front - a party whose main policy was to repatriate all non-white migrants.