Tue | Jul 28, 2026

Accused lawmaker killer refuses to say name in court

Published:Saturday | June 18, 2016 | 12:51 PM
AP
Kim Leadbeater (left), the sister of Labour Member of Parliament Jo Cox, speaks to the media as she visited floral tributes with her parents Jean (right) and Gordon Leadbeater (rear right) in Birstall.

LONDON (AP):

The man accused of a murder that has brought campaigning in the country's European Union referendum to a standstill turned his first court appearance yesterday into a chilling spectacle by refusing to state his real identity.

Asked his name in Westminster Magistrate's Court, Thomas Mair said: "My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain."

The 52-year-old Mair, accused of murdering British Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox, also refused to reveal his address or his date of birth.

His bizarre performance prompted Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot to order a psychiatric report into Mair's mental state that may influence how the case against him proceeds.

Mair is accused of using a dagger and a handgun to kill Cox after she got out of her car for a meeting with constituents last Thursday in the small town of Birstall in northern England.