The Labour MP Jo Cox has died after being shot and stabbed multiple times following a constituency meeting. Armed officers responded to the attack near a library in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on Thursday afternoon. A 52-year-old man was arrested in the area, police confirmed. The suspect was named locally as Tommy Mair.



Police added that Cox, 41, the MP for Batley and Spen, had suffered serious injuries and was pronounced dead at 1.48pm on Thursday by a doctor with paramedics at the scene.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The suspect was named locally as Tommy Mair. Photograph: SWNS.com

Police confirmed that a man in his late 40s to early 50s nearby suffered slight injuries in the incident. They are also investigating reports that the suspect shouted “Britain first”, a possible reference to the far-right political party of that name, as he launched the attack. Police are understood to be talking to at least one witness who claimed to have heard the attacker shout the words, and the motivation for the incident will form part of their inquiry.

Cox’s husband, Brendan, said after her death was announced: “Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.

“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. 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.

“Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full.”

The temporary chief constable of West Yorkshire police, Dee Collins, said there was a large, ongoing investigation, with heightened visibility patrols in the area. She added that weapons had been retrieved from the scene, including a firearm.

At the press conference announcing Cox’s death, Collins said: “Jo was attacked by a man who inflicted serious and sadly, ultimately fatal injuries. Subsequently there was a further attack on a 77-year-old man nearby who has sustained injuries that are non-life threatening.

“Shortly afterwards, a man was arrested nearby by uniform police officers. Weapons including a firearm have also been recovered.

“At 1.48pm, Jo Cox was pronounced deceased by a doctor working with a paramedic crew that was attending to her serious injuries.

“This is a very significant investigation with a large number of witnesses that are being spoken to by the police at this time. There is a large and significant crime scene and there is a large police presence in the area. A full investigation is under way to establish the motive for this murder.”

There was police activity following the attack at a semi-detached house on the Fieldhead estate in Birstall. Thomas Mair, 52, is the registered occupier of the address, according to the electoral roll. Police have not officially confirmed the suspect’s identity.

A cordon surrounded the house as a helicopter circled overheard and forensic officers in boiler suits appeared to be searching the neat front garden, as well as around garages at the back of the property.

‘Britain first’

Graeme Howard, 38, who lives in nearby Bond Street, told the Guardian he heard the man shout “Britain first” before the shooting and during the arrest.

“I heard the shot and I ran outside and saw some ladies from the cafe running out with towels,” he said. “There was loads of screaming and shouting and the police officers showed up.

“He was shouting ‘Britain first’ when he was doing it and being arrested. He was pinned down by two police officers and she was taken away in an ambulance.”



Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of Britain First, said the party was “looking into the reports right now”. “We were extremely shocked to see these reports and we are keen to confirm them, because of course at the moment it is hearsay,” she said. “This has just been brought to our attention. This is absolutely not the kind of behaviour we would condone.”

Other witnesses said the attack was launched after the MP became involved in an altercation involving two men near where she held her weekly surgery. A Labour source confirmed Cox was shot and stabbed after she had concluded the drop-in session for constituents at about 1pm.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Residents arrive to place flowers close to the scene in Birstall where Labour MP Jo Cox was shot. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

The shopkeeper in a greengrocer opposite Birstall library, Golden D’Licious, told the Guardian that he believed the attacker had been waiting for the MP outside the library.



“I was inside the shop and all I heard was a scream and then the gunshot,” he said, without giving his name. “I went out and everyone was dispersing. I couldn’t see because it happened behind a car.”

Terry Flynn-Edwards, who runs the Divine hair studio opposite the scene of the attack, said a man from the dry cleaners had tried to stop the assault. She said: “She walked out of the library with her PA and he was waiting for her. He stabbed her first and this guy tried to stop him and then he shot her.”

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But one witness, Hithem Ben Abdallah, 56, who was in the cafe next door to the library shortly after 1pm, said the MP was involved in an altercation between two arguing men.

He told the Press Association a man in a baseball cap “suddenly pulled a gun from his bag” and after a brief scuffle with another man the MP became involved.

He added: “He was fighting with her and wrestling with her and then the gun went off twice and then she fell between two cars and I came and saw her bleeding on the floor.”

Clarke Rothwell, another witness, told BBC News there was a direct altercation between Cox and a man carrying a gun, who “purposefully” targeted her.

“He shot this lady and then shot her again,” he said. “He leant down. Someone was wrestling with him and he was wielding a knife and lunging at her. Three times she was shot. People were trying to help her.

“Then he ran off down a one-way street. Me and my mate drove round to try and find him.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The scene in Birstall, West Yorkshire. Photograph: Glen MInikin/SWNS.com

A West Yorkshire police spokesman said: “At 12.53 today, police were called to a report of an incident on Market Street, Birstall, where a woman in her 40s had suffered serious injuries.”

The Priestley residential care home next door to the library on Market Street was thought to be in lockdown. The firm’s head office said all the residents were safe and accounted for following the shooting.

Neighbours on the Fieldhead council estate said the suspect had lived here 40 years with a female relative, who died a number of years ago, leaving him alone.

Kathleen Cooke, 62, said she and her daughter, Emma John, 30, had seen Mair half an hour before the attack.

“I looked out of the window at about 12.30pm and he walked past carrying his bag, wearing a cap. He looked perfectly calm and normal,” said John. “He was a quiet person, kept himself to himself. We knew him around here from when he used to do our gardens,” said Cooke.

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One woman, who gave her name just as Karen, said Mair had tended her mother’s garden regularly until a few years ago. He did not seem to have a job, she said.

Local teenagers said he was a quiet man unless they congregated on the wall behind his house, which he did not like. “He’d shout at us,” said a 17-year-old. “All this we are hearing now is totally at odds with the man we thought we knew,” said one neighbour. “We knew him as someone who helped out, who did volunteering.”

Senior politicians expressed their shock at the killing and sent their condolences.

David Cameron said: “The death of Jo Cox is a tragedy. She was a committed and caring MP. My thoughts are with her husband Brendan and her two young children.”

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said the country would be “in shock at the horrific murder” of the MP, who was a “much-loved colleague”.

Cox was elected to parliament in 2015, having previously worked internationally as a head of policy and humanitarian campaigning for Oxfam.

She chaired the all-party parliamentary group for Friends of Syria, and was vocal in making the case for military action in the country last autumn, on humanitarian grounds. Her husband is a former Labour adviser who stepped down as a senior executive of the charity Save the Children last year.

Cox’s fellow Labour MP John Mann described her as “one of the real stars of the new intake”, and said her colleagues were “absolutely stunned” by the attack.