Trial begins for suspect in murder of British MP Jo Cox

LONDON — The trial of the man accused of killing British lawmaker Jo Cox in a street attack that shocked the United Kingdom began here Monday.

Cox, 41, a politician for the opposition Labour Party, was stabbed and shot to death June 16 in Birstall, a village in her northern English constituency in West Yorkshire.

Thomas Mair, 53, had been charged with murdering Cox, causing grievous bodily harm to a 77-year-old bystander who tried to help her, and possessing a firearm and a dagger.

The incident led to a suspension of campaigning ahead of the June 23 referendum that saw Britons vote to leave the European Union. Cox favored remaining in the EU.

When he was charged with the murder in June, Mair said his name was “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain.” A judge recorded not guilty pleas after Mair stayed silent when asked to enter pleas at a hearing in October.

"The murder took place while she was performing her role as a member of Parliament," prosecutor Richard Whittam told the jury at the Old Bailey courthouse in central London, according to The Mirror.

“Thomas Mair’s intention was to kill her in what was a planned and pre-meditated murder for a political and/or ideological cause," he added.

Whittham said Mair shouted “Britain first" during the attack. Britain First is also the name of a far-right political party.

The court heard that searches of Mair’s home and his Internet use showed he had “strong political and ideological interests that might have been reflected in his declarations of Britain First during the attack,” the Mirror reported.

Cox, a human rights activist who worked as head of global policy for the international aid organization Oxfam, became a member of Parliament in 2015.

Her husband Brendan Cox tweeted Saturday: “As the trial starts I'd encourage everyone to remember Jo's life & what she stood for, not the manner of her death.”

The trial is expected to last two weeks.