Accused killer of UK lawmaker makes defiant court statement

“Death to traitors, freedom for Britain”, 52-year-old Thomas Mair said when asked to give his name in Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, the Press Association reported.

Mair also faces charges of grave bodily harm, “possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offense and possession of an offensive weapon”, according to the BBC. In 2006, the online newsletter of far-right group the Springbok Club said Mair was “one of the earliest subscribers and supporters of SA Patriot”. Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn prepare to lay floral tributes in Birstall, northern England, for Jo Cox, the 41-year-old British Member of Parliament…

Both sides in the referendum halted campaigning activity after Cox’s death.

The killing led to intense public discussions about the heated tone of political campaigning a week before Britain holds a national referendum on its European Union membership.

She was rushed to hospital after being shot several times and stabbed, but was declared dead soon after.

Mair, balding with a grey 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.

Kim said since Jo Cox’s younger days,”all she wanted was everyone to be happy” and she “only saw good in people”.

As Cox was leaving her vehicle a knife-wielding man attacked her, Cawthorne said.

Mair’s statement in court may reinforce the impression that he is mentally ill.

“It is a vile act that has killed her”, Corbyn said.

While the House of Commons had not been due to resume meeting until after the referendum, leaders agreed to a special recall Monday to pay tribute to Cox.

President Barack Obama telephoned her husband to express condolences and released a statement praising her commitment and service.

“We’ll be reviewing our security, but I’ll walk through Barnsley today like every Friday”, said Jarvis, an army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bernard Kenny, 77, who was waiting in his auto after dropping his wife off to visit the library, went to Mrs Cox’s aid and tried to save her, but was himself stabbed and forced to retreat to a sandwich shop to seek cover.

Mourners also laid flowers on the roof of the converted river barge near London’s iconic Tower Bridge where she lived with her husband Brendan and two children, aged three and five. She said: “Bearing in mind the name he has just given, he ought to be seen by a psychiatrist”. Cox is the first serving lawmaker to be killed since Conservative politician Ian Gow was killed by an Irish Republican Army bomb in 1990.

While Parliament is protected by armed police, lawmakers spend large amounts of time in their home districts, generally without dedicated security.

He said: “I’ve said in terms an MP will be shot”.

The International Monetary Fund, which has previously warned that Britain and the world economy could be hit by a so-called Brexit, said on Saturday an exit could leave Britain’s economy more than 5 percent smaller by 2019.