Latest news with #ThomasMair
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Jo Cox ride is everything my sister was about'
The sister of the murdered MP Jo Cox says an annual bike ride, set up in the weeks after her death, has helped to keep her family going. Now in its 10th year, The Jo Cox Way will set off on Wednesday and see more than 100 cyclists pedal 290 miles from Yorkshire to London to remember the Batley and Spen MP, who was killed in 2016. Participants raise money and awareness for the foundation named after the late politician, which works to tackle issues she was passionate about such as loneliness and isolation "It is heart-warming to think Jo's name is at the forefront of something so positive," said sister Kim Leadbeater, who is now MP for Spen Valley. "June and July is always an emotional time of year for us," Ms Leadbeater continued. "We remember Jo's murder and that is very difficult but what keeps us going is events like the Joe Cox Way bike ride. "In the face of such dreadful tragedy, people came together and showed that we do have more in common than that which divides us." Ms Cox was killed in Birstall on 16 June 2016, a week before the EU referendum vote. She had been on her way to a constituency surgery when Thomas Mair shot and stabbed the mother-of-two. He was jailed for life following the attack. "Jo's murder still is unbelievable" Ms Leadbeater said. "It is still very, very difficult to comprehend what happened but the amount of positive energy created under the most horrific circumstances certainly kept us going as a family." This year, riders will be wearing the purple, white and green colours of the suffragettes to celebrate the women's suffrage movement. Of the 105 cyclists taking part, 58 are women - and Sam Foster is among them. "I think it is a way of channelling and making sure that positive things come out of something that was so disastrous," the 58-year-old maths teacher said. "It is not just about raising money, but actually being a part of it, bringing a load of us together from completely different backgrounds and we have to work together." After setting off from the Princess Mary Stadium in Cleckheaton the mixed-ability cyclists will arrive in Buxton in Derbyshire later on Wednesday. They are set to reach London on Sunday, July 27. Tracy Vause is taking part in the ride for the first time after watching the race set off in recent years. "I cannot actually believe that we are going from Cleckheaton to London; we know it is really hilly on day one so there is not really the shock there. "I know it is going to be a challenge and you have got to really dig deep" Ms Vause, from Gomersal, said the group would support each other through the challenge. "It is not a race, there is not a prize for being first so I am really looking forward to it". Ranging in ages from 21 to 79, cyclists taking part will climb a total of 13,000 feet during their journey. The oldest rider on this year's route, Kath Lyons, from Sheffield, celebrates her 80th birthday just after event. She is riding in the challenge for the fourth time. "I am doing The Jo Cox Way again to remind myself what Jo stood for; it is more relevant now than when she said it. "We all have 'more in common' than we think. "I also still quite fancy the challenge; can I still do it?" Ms Leadbeater added: "For those four-and-a-half days, nothing else matters - all that matters is getting up the next hill and getting to London, raising money for charity and making friendships. "That is everything that Jo was about". Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. More on this story Jo Cox cycle ride 'inspirational' - sister Record number turns out for Jo Cox memorial ride Related internet links The Jo Cox Foundation The Jo Cox Way
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Great Notley 'white supremacist' plotted terror attacks
A white supremacist who "idolised Hitler" planned to carry out a terrorist attack at the Lord Mayor of London's residence, a court Coleman is accused of buying a pistol and 188 rounds of ammunition with a dream of "sparking a race war" in September he was snared by undercover police officers and MI5 in a "highly sophisticated operation" in a supermarket car park, after paying £3,500 in exchange for what he thought was the weapons, the Old Bailey was told. The 21-year-old, from Great Notley in Essex, admits possessing a firearm, ammunition and 10 offences of having a document useful to terrorism, but denies preparing an attack. The court was told Mr Coleman was inspired by Thomas Mair, who murdered the MP Jo Cox in 2016, and penned a manifesto and several detailed notes planning different terrorist scenarios and "seething with hatred".He was arrested by armed police after the supermarket snare in Stratford, east London, on 23 September 2023. 'Extreme right-wing ideology' Nicholas de la Poer KC, prosecuting, described Mr Coleman as an "aspiring assassin" who bought knives online and researched the "most advanced weapons used by terrorists".He alleged his manifesto ended with the line: "Someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world and I guess that has to be me."At one point during the prosecution's opening, a member of the jury cried out "brainwasher" when they were read documents Mr Coleman allegedly aged 19, Mr Coleman was caught after purchasing a Makarov pistol, five magazines and 188 rounds of ammunition from an undercover police officer, Mr de la Poer stash had been left inside a Land Rover at a Morrisons supermarket in Stratford, jurors heard, and Mr Coleman paid £3,500 in cash for it was a snare that led to Mr Coleman, of Tailors Close, being arrested by armed police less than 30 yards (90ft) from the car at 11:20 de la Poer continued: "Mr Coleman believed in an extreme right-wing ideology which included idolising the likes of Thomas Mair, who murdered the MP, Jo Cox."The defendant "believed in the supremacy of white people and neo-Nazism", the prosecutor added, saying he "idolised Hitler" and denied the Holocaust. Jurors were told Mr Coleman's arrest followed years of research and discourse online that had been "driven by hatred"."At the heart of it, is the claim that white people are superior to everyone else," Mr de la Poer started his journey to become a "military accelerationist" by downloading a document to his mobile phone, the prosecutor told Coleman has admitted also having nine other texts including The Anarchist Cookbook, the White Resistance Manual and the Terrorist Explosives Handbook. 'Seething with hatred' A manifesto he wrote on his phone was called "roofmanifesto", named after Dylann Roof, who went on a shooting rampage at a church in South Carolina in 2015, jurors de la Poer said it read: "Find and execute the enemies of our race wherever they manifest themselves, no matter the age or gender."Another note called "you can't see me" plotted the hijack of a plane, and in June 2022, the prosecutor said, he allegedly wrote a note for a terrorist attack, identifying his initial target as the "Mayor of London house".One note, entitled "collapse", made reference to putting an explosive in a cash machine and listed weapons including knives and crossbows, jurors court was told during this period, Mr Coleman also wrote racist comments about a Tesco colleague in Great Notley, calling her a "race traitor"."However he presented to the outside world when at work, Mr Coleman was seething with hatred on the inside," Mr de la Poer to murdered Batley and Spen MP Cox in a Telegram chat online, Mr Coleman allegedly said: "Everyone bleeds no matter who you are".The court heard he had been sharing extreme right-wing views with undercover police and MI5 agents online, and they began investigating him before setting up the allegedly told one MI5 officer: "I don't follow the words of anyone except Adolf Hitler".The trial, expected to last four weeks, continues. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
