Jo Cox: Thomas Mair to stand trial over Labour MP's murder in November

The 52-year-old is charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon

Thomas Mair's case is being handled under the "terrorism protocol" (PA/Elizabeth Cook)

The man accused of murdering Labour MP Jo Cox is to go on trial in November.

Thomas Mair, 52, is being held on suspicion of shooting and stabbing Ms Cox, 41, outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, near Leeds, a week ago.

He is charged with murder, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon.

He appeared at the Old Bailey via video link from top security Belmarsh jail, in London, amid a list of terror-related cases to be heard by Mr Justice Saunders.

The senior judge set a provisional timetable with a trial fixed to start on 14 November.

Another hearing will take place on 19 September at the Old Bailey, with a plea hearing pencilled in on 4 October. The trial will be heard before a High Court judge and is likely to be at the Old Bailey.

Mair, from Birstall, whose case is being handled under the “terrorism protocol”, spoke only to confirm his name. At a magistrates’ hearing last week he gave it as: “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain”.

Throughout, he sat with his head bowed, taking notes, and made no reaction as his lawyer Cairns Nelson QC discussed his case with prosecutor Mark Dawson and the judge.

The preliminary hearing coincides with referendum day and comes the day after Ms Cox's widower Brendan and their two young children marked what would have been her 42nd birthday.

At the Commons event, they heard Prime Minister David Cameron praise Ms Cox as “a voice of compassion whose irrepressible spirit and boundless energy lit up the lives of all who knew her”.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said that, with her death, British society had lost “one of our very best”.

Press Association