Photo: AP

According to a report released by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the man suspected of killing Labor MP Jo Cox was a longtime supporter of white nationalist causes, having sent hundreds of dollars to the now-defunct American neo-Nazi group National Alliance.

Witnesses say the alleged killer—later identified as 52-year-old Thomas Mair—shouted “Britain First” while shooting Cox with a “homemade or antique” firearm. Notably, the Southern Poverty Law Center found that Mair purchased a manual that included instructions for building an improvised pistol from the National Alliance in 1999:

Mair, who resides in what is described as a semi-detached house on the Fieldhead Estate in Birstall, sent just over $620 to the NA, according to invoices for goods purchased from National Vanguard Books, the NA’s printing imprint. Mair purchased subscriptions for periodicals published by the imprint and he bought works that instruct readers on the “Chemistry of Powder & Explosives,” “Incendiaries,” and a work called “Improvised Munitions Handbook.” Under “Section III, No. 9” (page 125) of that handbook, there are detailed instructions for constructing a “Pipe Pistol For .38 Caliber Ammunition” from components that can be purchased from nearly any hardware store. [...] The Daily Telegraph also reported that Mair was a subscriber to S. A. Patriot, a South African magazine published by White Rhino Club, a pro-apartheid group. The club describes that magazine’s editorial stance as opposed to “multi-cultural societies” and “expansionist Islam.” According to the Daily Telegraph, a January 2006 blog post attributed to the group described Mair as “one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of S. A. Patriot.”

According to The Independent, Cox was a “rising star” in the center-left Labour Party who campaigned for Britain to stay in the EU and urged her country to help Syrian refugees.

Thomas Mair (alleged killer of #JoCox) purchased handbook that details how to build a gun https://t.co/JHE1yTYBlr pic.twitter.com/pJtsbghbpT — (((SPLC))) (@splcenter) June 16, 2016

“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life,” said husband Brendan Cox in a statement. “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. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous.”