Jo Cox accused had Third Reich ornament at his house
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Jo Cox accused had Third Reich ornament at his house

The MP's alleged murderer Thomas Mair displayed a swastika-emblazoned eagle in his room and owned far-right literature

A statute of the eagle of the German Third Reich in the home of Thomas Mair (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police /PA Wire)
A statute of the eagle of the German Third Reich in the home of Thomas Mair (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police /PA Wire)

The alleged white supremacist accused of murdering MP Jo Cox had a Third Reich Eagle ornament on a bookshelf at his home, a court has heard.

Thomas Mair, 53, is on trial for allegedly shooting and stabbing the 41-year-old Remain campaigner a week before the EU referendum vote.

Jurors were shown a series of pictures taken of Mair’s belongings at his housing association home in Lowood Lane, Birstall.

They included the gold Nazi item with a Swastika emblazoned on it which was placed on top of a bookshelf in his bedroom.

Mair owned a large collection of far-right books and magazines including March Of The Titans: A History Of The White Race; publications on the German Holocaust; and SS Race Theory And Mate Selection Guidelines.

A police search uncovered a double-page press cutting on Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik and a dossier on Mrs Cox and her political history.

A printout of a Wikipedia entry on the White Patriot Party was found in his drawers along with information on the BBB – White Liberation Movement – a notorious South African neo-Nazi organisation.

Officers found rune stones in a bag, one of which appeared to have a symbol of the BBB movement on it.

There were also various Nazi badges and a “Deutschland” cap, prosecutor Richard Whittam QC told jurors.

Police seized computers from libraries in Birstall and Batley which Mair had used to look at more far-right material and search for information on Mrs Cox and .22 rifles.

Thomas Mair (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police /PA Wire)
Thomas Mair (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police /PA Wire)

On April 6, he looked at the American neo-Nazi news site Daily Stormer before searching for Dylann Roof, who was suspected of killing nine black Americans in Charleston in 2015, the court heard.

He also allegedly searched for the Ku Klux Klan, former BNP leaders, and matricide, the court heard.

Jurors were shown a YouTube video that Mair watched on June 7 of an American man shooting a .22 sawn-off firearm in a field, filmed from a head-cam.

This was the same day he searched for Mrs Cox on Wikipedia and Google Images.

On June 16, the Labour MP for Batley and Spen was set upon outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, in front of her staff and shocked passers-by.

Mair allegedly shouted “Britain First” as he repeatedly shot and stabbed the mother-of-two.

Mair’s neighbour of 13 years, Katie Green, described him as “very quiet, very shy but did not see any visitors”.

She told jurors that he always kept his garden very tidy and spent a lot of time in it.

National Vanguard magazines found in the home of Thomas Mair (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police /PA Wire)
National Vanguard magazines found in the home of Thomas Mair (Photo credit: West Yorkshire Police /PA Wire)

Giving evidence via video-link from Leeds Crown Court, Ms Green described a brief encounter with Mair when she travelled to Birstall market place by bus on the day of the killing.

When she got off the bus, she saw the defendant looking as if he was queuing to board, the court heard.

She said: “He was at the front of the queue looking like he was just waiting to get on to the bus.

“He had a pair of dark trousers and a dark green khaki jacket and dark cream baseball cap.

“He always carried bags. He had three or four bags. I saw him walk off.”

Within minutes, Ms Green said she heard about a gun incident and decided to abandon her shopping trip.

She said: “I was going to the market place for fruit and veg.

“I saw the commotion and I heard somebody say there is somebody with a gun so I got my little girl straight into a taxi and came straight home.”

Mair denies Mrs Cox’s murder, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon – a dagger.

He also pleads not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Bernard Carter-Kenny on the same date.

The case was adjourned until Tuesday.

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