Chaos in the street as Jo Cox attacker ‘just walked away’
A WITNESS to the killing of MP Jo Cox told a 999 operator, “There’s hell on, it’s chaos,” as he urged emergency services to hurry to the scene in a call played to jurors yesterday.
The Old Bailey heard yesterday that her alleged killer, Thomas Mair, 53, shot the Batley and Spen MP twice, then reloaded the gun to shoot her once more before he calmly walked away “with not a care in the world”.
Darren Playford called emergency services after the attack on the 41-yearold Remain campaigner outside her surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, on June 16. The court was played a record- ing of the call in which Mr Playford said the attacker had “stabbed and shot people”.
A succession of eyewitnesses have told the Old Bailey trial how mother-oftwo Mrs Cox was attacked by a knifewielding man who warned them they had “better move back” or be stabbed.
David Honeybell, who had gone to see Mrs Cox before her surgery, told jurors that the attacker “just walked away with not a care in the world, he just walked away”.
In the 999 call, Mr Playford told how the man followed him down Union Street as he fled after witnessing the attack. He said: “He’s shooting everyone.”
The operator said: “Who’s shooting everyone?” He replied: “The gunman. Outside the library in Birstall.”
He told how the man had “stabbed a lady”, adding: “He’s following me at the moment. I’m just trying to get away from him. If you sent the helicopter up he’s walking towards Huddersfield Road.”
Mr Playford continued talking to the operator, keeping them informed about the man going behind the Vaults pub and changing his clothes.
He said: “If you hurry up you’ll get him. There’s hell on. It’s chaos – he’s stabbed and shot people.”
Mrs Cox was set upon outside her constituency surgery in Birstall in front of her staff and shocked residents. Her assistant stepped in and hit the man with her handbag, while 78-year-old Bernard Carter-Kenny desperately tried to intervene but was stabbed too, the trial has heard.
Taxi driver Rashid Hussain pulled up at around the same time as Mrs Cox’s arrival at Birstall library. He heard what sounded like a “firecracker”, jurors were told.
“He shot twice. He moved back and shot again,” Mr Hussain said.
MPs spent almost £640,000 on extra security in the four months after the murder of Mrs Cox, according to figures from the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Just £160,000 was spent in the previous year.