Suspect in slay of British lawmaker charged

BRITISH police said on Saturday they had charged a 52-year-old man in the slaying of lawmaker Jo Cox, and said the suspect appeared to have acted alone.

Cox, a supporter of Britain staying in the European Union, was shot and stabbed on Thursday by a man who witnesses said shouted “Britain first,” in her own electoral district near Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire in northern England.

Her murder has left Britain in shock and campaigning for next week’s referendum on whether to remain in the EU has been suspended as a mark of respect.

West Yorkshire police said on its website that Thomas Mair had been charged with the murder of the 41-year-old mother of two and was due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court later on Saturday.

Police, working with the North East Counter Terrorism Unit, were pursuing inquiries into media reports of “the suspect being linked to right wing extremism” and “the suspect’s link to mental health services,” West Yorkshire Police Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen said in a statement.

“Based on information available at this time, this appears to be an isolated, but targeted attack upon Jo—there is also no indication at this stage that anyone else was involved in the attack. However we will be investigating how the suspect came to be in possession of an unlawfully held firearm,” Wallen said.

Mair had been charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon, police said.