The
man charged with murdering British lawmaker Jo Cox gave his name as
“death to traitors, freedom for Britain” when he appeared in court on
June 18 accused of a killing that could be a defining moment in a vote
on European Union membership.
The
murder of Cox, a 41-year-old mother of two young children, has shocked
Britain, elicited condolences from leaders around the world and raised
questions about the tone of campaigning before the EU referendum which
takes place next Thursday.
Cox, an ardent supporter of EU
membership, was shot and stabbed in the street in her electoral district
in northern England on Thursday.
Wearing a gray sweat shirt and
trousers and flanked by two security guards, 52-year-old Thomas Mair was
asked his name by a clerk at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London.
“Death
to traitors, freedom for Britain,” Mair said. When asked again what his
name was, Mair calmly repeated: “My name is death to traitors, freedom
for Britain.”
“Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he
ought to be seen by a psychiatrist,” Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma
Arbuthnot told the court.
Mair, balding with a gray goatee beard,
made no further comment in the 15-minute hearing, his first appearance
in public since police arrested him in the town of Birstall, Yorkshire,
where Cox was killed.
His brief comment in court furthered
suggestions that the attack was politically-motivated as it echoed the
message put forward by those supporting a so-called Brexit that leaving
the EU would be a vote for freedom.
The case is also being by handled by the counter-terrorism unit of Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service.
Prosecutor
David Cawthorne told the court that those who witnessed the attack said
Cox had been repeatedly stabbed and then shot three times as she lay on
the ground.
Her attacker was heard saying “Britain first, Keep
Britain independent, Britain always comes first,” Cawthorne said. When
he was arrested by police he told them “I’m a political activist”, the
prosecutor told the court.
Material relating to far right ideology was found in a search of his home, Cawthorne said.
Mair
is charged with murder, causing grievous bodily harm, and possession of
a firearm and a knife. He was remanded in custody and will appear at
London’s Old Bailey court on Monday.
The killing has shocked the
nation. Both sides have temporarily suspended campaigning ahead of
Thursday’s vote, which has far reaching implications for both the EU and
Britain.
A British exit from the EU would rock the bloc –
already shaken by differences over migration and the future of the euro
zone – by ripping away its second-largest economy, one of its top two
military powers and by far its richest financial center.
Pro-Europeans,
including former prime ministers Tony Blair and John Major, have warned
that an exit could also trigger the break-up of the United Kingdom by
prompting another Scottish independence vote if England pulled Scotland
out of the EU.
