On June 16, 2016 the Member of Parliament Jo Cox was murdered in Birstall, West Yorkshire. A man who came to her aid was seriously injured. Thomas Mair was charged, tried at the Central Criminal Court in London, and convicted by a jury on November 23, 2016. The same day the judge sentenced him, and on the murder count imposed a whole life sentence.
Mair faced four counts: murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and two further counts. At a hearing in October 2016 he declined to answer when asked how he pleaded, and the judge recorded pleas of not guilty. The trial opened at the Old Bailey on Monday November 14, 2016 before a judge and a jury. Mair chose not to give evidence in his defense.
The jury retired for less than two hours. On Wednesday November 23, 2016 it returned verdicts of guilty on every count, including murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Sentencing took place on the same day, November 23, 2016. On the murder count the judge concluded that the offense was "of such a high level of exceptional seriousness" that "it can only properly be marked by a whole life sentence." He added that release could come only "by the Secretary of State exercising executive clemency on humanitarian grounds."
On the second count, which the judge described as "inextricably linked with the count of murder," he passed the same sentence of life imprisonment and fixed a minimum term of 15 years less time on remand, "being one half of 30 years." On the third count, which the judge described as committed in order to facilitate the murder, the sentence was 20 years' imprisonment, concurrent. On the fourth count, which carried a maximum of 4 years, the sentence was 4 years, concurrent.
The sentencing remarks record the court's finding on the purpose of the murder in these words: "the murder was done for the purpose of advancing a political, racial and ideological cause."
Mair began serving the sentence in the United Kingdom in November 2016.
Mair did not give evidence in his defense, and pleas of not guilty were recorded at the October 2016 hearing. The jury returned guilty verdicts on every count.
June 16, 2016: the offenses in Birstall, West Yorkshire.
October 2016: pleas of not guilty recorded at a hearing.
November 14, 2016: trial opens at the Old Bailey.
November 23, 2016: jury verdicts of guilty on all four counts; sentence passed, whole life on the murder count.