Husband of murdered Labour MP Jo Cox marries violence against women campaigner in wedding ceremony officiated by the Archbishop of Canterbury
- Brendan Cox, 44, exchanged vows with Anna Ryder, 37, at Lambeth Palace
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has carried out many wedding ceremonies, but one this week brought him particular joy.
He officiated the marriage of the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox, who was killed seven years ago.
Brendan Cox, 44, exchanged vows with domestic violence campaigner Anna Ryder, 37, on Tuesday at Lambeth Palace.
Cox asked permission from his two children before marrying again.
He said Cuillin, 12, and Lejla, ten, were delighted at the news, as he admitted he ‘never thought’ he would find love again, adding: ‘I am incredibly lucky that I have.’
Brendan Cox, 44, was introduced to Anna Ryder, 37, through a mutual friend two years ago
Labour MP Jo Cox was fatally shot and stabbed by a far-Right extremist as she attended her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in June 2016
The Jo Cox Foundation was set up by Mr Cox in his wife’s memory following her murder
Brendan Cox is believed to have been introduced to Anna Ryder, director of the Killed Women’s network which works to support the bereaved families of women and girls, through a mutual friend two years ago.
A source said: ‘They are very happy together. It’s lovely news for the family. Brendan’s a fantastic dad and his focus has been very much on the children. It was with their encouragement that Brendan and Anna wanted to take this step. They are very excited for the wedding.’
Mrs Cox was shot and stabbed by extremist Thomas Mair as she attended her Batley and Spen constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, during the referendum on EU membership in June 2016. That year white supremacist Mair was jailed for life for her murder.
Since her death, Mr Cox founded the Together Coalition and has worked to support survivors of terror attacks while also raising the couple’s children, Cuillin, 12, and Lejla, ten.
The Jo Cox Foundation was also set up in his wife’s memory, which works to spread the MP’s message of unity from her maiden speech in Parliament where she said: ‘We have more in common than that which divides us’.
Speaking on Lorraine, Mr Cox said he and his wife had talked about what they would do if either one of them ever died and claimed she would have ‘always wanted’ him to remarry if she passed away.
‘I always knew that she would want that,’ he said. ‘But I never thought it would happen because when you lose someone like Jo, you never think you’ll find somebody with the energy and the love and the enthusiasm and the excitement that Jo had. I’m incredibly lucky that I have.’
And when he told his children he was going to propose to Ms Ryder, they apparently backed him, saying ‘you’re never going to do any better than Anna’. ‘They’re very excited about it,’ he added.
Mr and Mrs Cox married in 2009, and their children were aged just five and three at the time of her death.
Brendan and Anna (pictured on holiday) exchanged vows on Tuesday at Lambeth Palace
Ms Ryder (pictured) met Mr Cox through her work as the director of of Killed Women, a network which works to support the bereaved families of victims of domestic violence
Mrs Cox was brutally murdered by loner Mair while she was at a surgery for her constituents.
Mair, 59, spent hours looking up information on the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organisations before brutally attacking the Labour MP in her hometown of Batley, West Yorkshire.
He lay in wait outside Birstall Library for the mother-of-two to arrive for a constituency surgery before repeatedly stabbing her with a 7in dagger and firing a .22 rimfire rifle.
He viciously attacked the mother-of-two, shooting her three times through the hands as she tried to protect her head, after being stabbed in the heart, lungs, stomach and liver.
Heroically, Mrs Cox warned her two aides to stay back and told them ‘let him hurt me, don’t let him hurt you’ as Mair carried out his attack.
The Neo Nazi was arrested about 30 minutes after he killed the MP and told police he was a ‘political activist’.
Mair was found with a leaflet in his bag from the pro-EU Britain Stronger in Europe campaign, which Mrs Cox supported.
He was also heard shouting: ‘This is for Britain, Britain will always come first.’ While another witness said the killer yelled: ‘We’re British independence’ and ‘Keep Britain independent’.
Mrs Cox’s killer Thomas Mair, 59, had researched ‘matricide’ online and may have been on his way to kill his mother when police arrested him
Mair used this weapon during his vicious attack against the 41-year-old on June 16, 2016
Mair viciously attacked the mother of two, shooting her three times through the hands as she tried to protect her head, after being stabbed in the heart, lungs, stomach and liver. Pictured is the knife recovered by police used during the attack
Mrs Cox heroically told her aides to stay away as she was been brutally attacked by Mair
During his trial a jury heard he had researched Tory Ian Gow – the last sitting MP murdered when he was killed by the IRA in 1990 – and Conservative MP William Hague, who also backed Remain, before carrying out his attack.
As well as carry out research on a ‘far-Right’ internet publication, Mair also looked into whether his .22 calibre rifle was ‘deadly enough to kill with one shot to a human’s head’.
He also searched the death penalty in Japan, further Nazi material and the act of killing one’s mother.
The court heard that on the night before he killed Mrs Cox, he researched coffins, the Waffen SS and lying in state.
Mair was handed a whole-life sentence during a hearing at London’s Old Bailey, becoming one of 70 prisoners serving such a tariff in the UK, joining the likes of Peter Sutcliffe, Ian Brady, Dale Cregan and Michael Adebolajo.
Mrs Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater and her mother and father Jean Leadbeater and Gordon Leadbeater embrace outside the Old Bailey courthouse after the conviction and sentencing of Thomas Mair for their daughter’s murder
Mair remained emotionless as he was jailed for life for the murder of Jo Cox
Speaking after his wife’s killer was convicted, Mr Cox said: ‘We feel nothing but pity for him that his life was so devoid of love and filled with hatred, his only way of finding meaning was to attack a woman who represented all that was good about the country in an act of supreme cowardice.’
Mrs Cox’s sister Kim said of her family: ‘Whilst we can’t change what’s happened, we can try and chose how we respond – I for one will not be beaten. It’s the last thing my sister would have wanted. As a family we will respond with strength, love and positivity.’
The jury took just 90 minutes to return the verdict. The trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie refused Mair’s request to make a statement in court after the jury had spoken.
The judge told Mair that Mrs Cox was the ‘true patriot’ and not him. Mair’s murderous attack on the MP was ‘brutal and ruthless’, the judge said.
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