Tributes paid to Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox a decade since her murder
She's been described "the nicest, most compassionate, kind person you could hope to meet" by her sister Kim Leadbeater
Last updated 10 hours ago
A West Yorkshire MP is being remembered by family, friends and the whole country, 10 years since her murder.
Jo Cox was 41 when she was shot and stabbed in her constituency Batley and Spen constituency, as she attended a surgery in the town of Birstall.
She left behind two young children.
Thomas Mair, a far-right extremist obsessed with white supremacy and neo-Nazism killed Jo just days before the UK's EU referendum.
On November 23, 2016, following a seven-day trial at the Old Bailey in London, the jury found Mair guilty on all charges, and he was immediately handed a whole-life prison sentence without the possibility of parole.
"Her legacy feels as vital and urgent as ever"
Her sister, Kim Leadbeater has been speaking to us, ten years on since the tragedy.
She said how Jo would have found the "political climate at the moment challenging" but she would not have shied away from the challenge of uniting people.
Kim, who's now the MP for Jo's constituency, Spen Valley, formerly known as Batley and Spen, described the 10th anniversary of her “wonderful” sister’s murder a “moment in time” to urge political leaders especially not to “push people towards the extremes”.
Kim said it is “absolutely fine to be angry about things”, from worries around immigration to the cost of living and housing, but not to stoke division.
Her friend and CEO of Batley Academy Trust, Samantha Vickers described the moment she first knew something wasn't right: "There was a lot of helicopters, a lot of action and we got a call from the police that the schools had to go into lockdown."
A murder that shocked the world
Jo was only around a year into her role as an MP at the time of her killing and was widely seen as a rising star in Labour at the time.
She had already made a name with her humanitarian work, including with Oxfam, before deciding to step into politics full time.
In her maiden speech in Parliament spoke of unity, saying "we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.”
That phrase would go on to define her legacy and is the founding principle of the Jo Cox foundation, set up in her name.
In the days after her murder leaders, including the Queen and US President Obama, were among those to pay tribute.
Tom Dambach was a journalist working for Bauer Media at the time, who went to the the scene of the murder soon after Jo was attacked.
He told us: "I just thought, and this was from the newsdesk, and you think... what's happened in that half an hour which means I've had 19 missed calls from the newsdesk."
He also said: "Very quickly once it was confirmed by West Yorkshire Police as to what had happened, that just became my life for the next week, two weeks."
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Jo Cox is remembered now “with renewed determination to carry forward the values she lived by”.
He added: “At a time when those values are being tested, her legacy feels as vital and urgent as ever. The best way to honour her memory is to stand firmly against hatred and division, to bring communities together, and to show, through both big acts and small, the compassion, decency and solidarity that define our nation at its best.
Hear our documentary about the death of Jo Cox here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6kA8m4lntbKX66q9wtvSkS