Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY





LONDON — The suspect detained by British police in connection with the murder of lawmaker Jo Cox had ties to a neo-Nazi group, according to a U.S. watchdog organization that monitors extremism.

The Southern Poverty Law Center said Friday it obtained records showing Tommy Mair was a longtime supporter of the National Alliance, a U.S.-based, white supremacist organization. It said it found Mair's name on a number of mail orders going back decades.

One of the orders, in 1999, was for instructions on how to build a gun.

'Brexit' campaigns on hold as Britain mourns Jo Cox

British police have not named Mair as the man who eyewitnesses said shouted "Britain first" before stabbing and shooting Cox in a village in northern England where she was meeting with constituents on Thursday, but British media have identified him as the suspect. He has been arrested but not yet charged with her killing.

"Britain first" may be a reference to the far-right political party of the same name or an anti-European Union slogan. Cox was a strong advocate for Britain's membership of the EU. The country will hold a national referendum on the issue on June 23.

Surveys show that it will be a close race but momentum before Cox's murder had swung in favor of those who want to leave the 28-nation political bloc. The referendum has highlighted sharp divisions over immigration. Those in favor of leaving the EU have pledged to lower it.

There is no evidence to link Cox's killing to the EU campaign.

Activity among white supremacists continues to surge

In total, Mair sent over $620 to the National Alliance. He bought works from its publishing arm that instruct readers on the “Chemistry of Powder & Explosives,” “Incendiaries,” and a title called “Improvised Munitions Handbook." There were detailed instructions for constructing a “Pipe Pistol For .38 Caliber Ammunition.”

British media also reported Friday that Mair had connections to the Springbok Club, a group that previously defended South Africa's racist apartheid regime.

In a June newsletter published on its website, the organization says that "on Thursday 23rd June 2016 all British voters will have the opportunity to vote on the future of their country. They can vote either to remain entrapped in the artificial and retrograde European Union, or to regain their sovereign independence."

Mair's brother Scott described his sibling as "not that violent and not that political." He also told reporters in Birstall, West Yorkshire, that his brother had a "history of mental illness, but he has had help." Duane St Louis, Mair's half brother, said he didn't think Mair "would hurt a fly."

Neighbors have described him as a quiet man who lived alone.

"He's never expressed any views about Britain, or politics or racist tendencies. I'm mixed race and I'm his half-brother, we got on well," said St Louis.

Contributing: Telegraph & Argus