Third Reich eagle ornament 'found at home of Jo Cox murder accused'

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Paul Davies

The man who is on trial for the murder MP Jo Cox had a gold Third Reich Eagle ornament with a swastika on it on his bookcase, a court has heard.

Thomas Mair, 53, is on trial for allegedly shooting and stabbing the 41-year-old Remain campaigner a week before the EU referendum vote.

A search of his home in Birstall, West Yorkshire, found books on German military history, the Old Bailey was told.

He also had a publication on the German Holocaust and SS Race Theory And Late Selection Guidelines, jurors heard.

Jo Cox was attacked outside her constituency surgery in June.

Another was entitled March Of The Titans: A History Of The White Race, and a double-page press cutting on Norwegian mass killer Anders Breivik was also allegedly recovered from his home.

A printout of a Wikipedia entry on the White Patriot Party was found in his drawers along with information on the BBB - White Liberation Movement - a notorious South African neo- Nazi organisation.

Issues of the magazine of American white supremacist group National Vanguard found at Thomas Mair's house. Credit: West Yorkshire Police

The material featured in a series of photographs shown to jurors by prosecutor Richard Whittam QC.

The court also heard that in the months before he allegedly killed Mrs Cox, Mair repeatedly visited neo-Nazi, right-wing and white supremacy websites.Mr Whittam said Mair used computers at public libraries in Birstall and Batley to access the material.

The jury were shown pictures of Mair's house. Credit: West Yorkshire Police

Police found that he made similar searches at the two libraries over the following weeks, on one day reading about a German Nazi party leader, on another looking at a site on historical extreme right-wing organisations.

Others included searches relating to the Ku Klux Klan, and to people who were murdered because of their civil rights work.

  • YouTube video watched by Thomas Mair on June 7.

Jurors were also shown a YouTube video that Mair watched on June 7 of an American man shooting a 0.22 sawn-off shotgun in a field.

Mair had allegedly collected a dossier on Mrs Cox in his home, including stories about her in newspapers, jurors heard.

There was also a printout of her biography from her website, jurors were told.

Thomas Mair suffered a head injury during his arrest. Credit: PA

Jo Cox died on June 16 after being attacked when she arrived at her MP's surgery.

Giving evidence via video-link from Leeds Crown Court, Mair's neighbour Katie Green described Mair as "very quiet, very shy but did not see any visitors".

The material featured in a series of photographs from the inside of Mair's house. Credit: PA

She described seeing the defendant on the day of the attack as she got off the bus.

She said: "He had a pair of dark trousers and a dark green khaki jacket and dark cream baseball cap.

"He always carried bags. He had three or four bags. I saw him walk off."

Part of a dossier on Jo Cox found in the home of Thomas Mair. Credit: West Yorkshire Police

Mair denies Mrs Cox's murder, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon - a dagger.

He also pleads not guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Bernard Carter-Kenny on the same date.

The case was adjourned until Tuesday.