Suspect Charged With The Murder Of British Lawmaker Jo Cox

Mr Mair was not required to enter a plea at court and his lawyer Keith Allen said there was no indication of what plea would be given.

Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland’s devolved government, said on Twitter that she, like dozens of others, would hold a surgery on Friday, “with heavy hearts”, after Cox, a lawmaker from Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, was shot and stabbed in her northern English electoral district.

Popular MP Jo Cox died after she was shot three times and stabbed as she arrived for a constituency meeting in Birstall near Leeds.

Mair faces charges of murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, said she was “inspiring to listen to”, adding: “A young family has lost a mum and a wife, a community has lost a great MP and Parliament has lost an authentic and passionate voice”.

The attack has raised security concerns for other members of Parliament who routinely meet with constituents in public meetings.

“She was taken from us in an act of hatred, in a vile act that has killed her. It’s an attack on democracy what happened yesterday”. He is stable in hospital.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a USA advocacy group, previously said that Mair, who had lived in Birstall for decades, was a “dedicated supporter” of National Alliance, once the primary neo-Nazi organisation in the United States.

Police, working with the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, were pursuing inquiries into media reports of “the suspect being linked to right wing extremism” and “the suspect’s link to mental health services”, West Yorkshire Police Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen said in a statement.

Police called the findings a “priority line of enquiry which will help us establish the motive for the attack on Jo”.

Baroness Boothroyd, 86, told The Yorkshire Post that she had become aware of this straight-talking Yorkshirewoman, previously a renowned aid campaigner, when the scale of the Syria refugee crisis was emerging – and was then particularly struck by how the 41-year-old spoke in Parliament.

Her murder has left Britain in shock and campaigning for next week’s referendum on whether to remain in the European Union has been suspended as a mark of respect.

At a rally across town in Hyde Park, “Remain” supporters arranged themselves to spell out the word “In” for an aerial photograph.

Both sides in the referendum campaign shut down campaigning within hours of her death, with major rallies and speeches cancelled or postponed.

Cox’s death has dominated the British news cycle since Thursday, prompting USA Today to run a collection of headlines related to her death.

One witness near the crime scene Thursday said the gunman shouted “Put Britain first” several times before and after the shooting, the Press Association reported.

The killing has muted the tone of public discussions over the referendum, which has focused heavily on immigration.