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ONE PAPER ... ALL THE NEWS from Dewsbury, Batley, Ossett, Mirfield, Liversedge, Birstall, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton & Spen Valley
The trial of Thomas Mair
Friday November 18, 2016
12 MONTHS
No. 764
GUARANTEE
50p
Danny Lockwood reports from the Old Bailey
Ordeal in Court 8 Jury, judiciary, journalists and Jo Cox’s bereft family watched and listened in disbelief as her calculated assassination was described...
T
HE spirit and passion, the humour and humanity of Jo Cox, was never questioned during her all too brief life. Political opponents couldn’t help but warm to her mischievous good nature. But at the Central Criminal Court in London this week – Court 8 of the Old Bailey – a packed room of jury, judiciary, journalists and Jo Cox’s bereft family, watched and listened at times in disbelief as her calculated assassination was described in graphic detail. Kim Leadbeater, Jo’s sister, clasped her knees to her chest and wept as the room heard on Wednesday how the dying MP pleaded with her two female staff members to escape and leave her to the mercy of her alleged attacker and far-right fanatic, Thomas Mair. Alongside her, their mother Jean cried silently, occasionally glancing icily across to the impassive, emotionless Mair. Her husband Gordon has been contained and dignified throughout. The late MP’s husband Brendan has not attended the trial yet. Mair, 53, of Lowood Lane, Birstall, has spent the duration variously glancing at his lap, gazing aimlessly into the black-gowned shoulders of prosecuting counsel Richard Whittam QC in front of him, or idly considering the blank corner of the
high-ceilinged room above the Honourable Mr Justice Wilkie, the judge in the case. Thomas Mair was described by a neighbour as a loner and occasional gardener, and according to evidence found by police, as a right-wing fantasist with a fixation on his town’s bright new MP Jo Cox. At his home they found a wealth of material about white supremacists and Nazi Germany, particularly the Waffen SS. Mair studiously avoided looking at the TV screen provided for him, as CCTV footage from Birstall town centre showed a man cross Market Street, launch a first brutal attack, briefly leave the scene, and then return to finish the job with two point-blank gunshots and a series of calculated dagger thrusts. The killer then calmly walked away. The court was told that Mair’s internet searches in the days immediately before the murder included assassinations, lying in state, paupers’ funerals, the .22 rimfire ammunition with which Jo was shot, former Tory leader William Hague – and matricide, the killing of one’s own mother. They were carried out on public computers in Birstall Library, using Mair’s personal card. It was still in his wallet when he was arrested, having discarded the coat and baseball cap he wore for the attack. On Mair’s last visit to the library he inquired about attending the MP’s scheduled surgery the following day.
The trial heard from numerous local people who saw the attack carried out, including her two female staff Fazila Aswat and Sandra Major. A statement from have-a-go hero Bernard Kenny had to be read to the jury as he was not well enough to attend court. Mr Kenny, 78, tried to tackle Jo Cox’s attacker but received a deep stab wound that penetrated his liver. In cross-examination, Mair’s barrister Mr Simon Russell-Flint QC has so far been constrained to quizzing witnesses mostly about their descriptions of the attacker, and challenging the arresting officers about whether Mair spoke to them at all. The court had been told that Mair said: “It’s me”, when he was caught just 30 or so minutes after the murder, and “I’m a political activist” upon being arrested. Mr Russell-Flint also accused the unarmed constables of being heavyhanded with the alleged killer when they tackled him to the ground in Risedale Avenue. He suffered cuts to the back of his head which required hospital treatment. Specialist armed response officer Ben Marston gave evidence that Mair’s gun was loaded and cocked when he was apprehended. He also had a bag of bullets in his pocket. Mair has pleaded not guilty to murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon.
Thomas Mair ... ‘loner and far-right fantasist’
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