Thomas Mair ‘researched Ku Klux Klan, Nazis and serial killers’ before Jo Cox attack

The man accused of murdering MP Jo Cox researched the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, serial killers and right wing politicians in the days prior to the attack, a court has heard.

Thomas Mair is also alleged to have repeatedly said “Britain First” as the mother-of two was shot and stabbed to death in June, days before the EU referendum.

During the trial at the Old Bailey today prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told jurors that the 53-year-old carried out the murder because of his "strong political and ideological interests".

The 41-year-old MP, who was a strong Remain advocate, was outside her Batley and Spen constituency surgery near Leeds, on June 16  when she was fatally attacked.

Mr Whittam, said: “As she arrived she was brutally murdered by one of her constituents, this defendant, Thomas Mair.

“It was a cowardly attack by a man armed with a firearm and a knife. Jo Cox was shot three times and suffered multiple stab wounds.

“During the course of the murder Thomas Mair was heard by a number of witnesses to say repeatedly ‘Britain First’.”

As well as researching far right material Mair was said to have also researched Remain-supporting Yorkshire MP William Hague and murdered Tory MP Ian Gow, who was killed by an IRA bomb in 1990.

[caption id="attachment_97828" align="alignnone" width="300"] Forensic police examine the Jo Cox attack crime scene.[/caption]

Jurors heard that during the attack Mair also stabbed Bernard Carter-Kenny, 77, as he tried to intervene to save Mrs Cox.

Mair allegedly used an adapted .22 gun and a dagger-like blade during the attack.

Mair denies murder, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon.

He also denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Carter-Kenny.