Jo Cox's sister tells of 'struggle to keep going' as anniversary of MP's murder approaches

Murdered MP Jo Cox
Jo Cox Foundation
Eleanor Rose13 June 2017

The sister of murdered MP Jo Cox has told of the “struggle to keep going” as she admitted she has not come to terms with her sibling's brutal murder.

As well-wishers across the country prepared for community events this weekend to mark the anniversary of the MP's death, Kim Leadbeater described the year since her older sister was shot and stabbed to death by right-wing loner Thomas Mair as a "constant rollercoaster".

Ms Leadbeater said she sometimes found herself sobbing in the middle of the night, but that she her family have been buoyed by an outpouring of support.

She said: "That doesn't mean we don't have days where it really can be a struggle to keep going, but so far we're managing.

Kim Leadbeater, sister of Jo Cox (PA)

"One thing that drives you is thinking what Jo would want you to do, and Jo wouldn't want this to take any more from us than it already has done. I keep trying to remember that."

Mrs Cox was shot and stabbed on June 16 last year as she arrived for a constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, just 13 months after being elected as Labour MP for Batley and Spen constituency.

Mair, who shouted "Britain first" as he attacked the mother of two, was given a whole life term after being convicted of her murder at the Old Bailey in November.

To mark the anniversary of her murder, thousands of people will take part in an event called the Great Get Together this weekend, gathering for small picnics and community events across the UK.

Jo Cox tributes - In pictures

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Miss Leadbeater, 41, said that throwing herself into the organisation had helped her get through the tragedy but that there was much painful work still to come.

She said: "I don't think I've grieved at all yet, if I'm quite honest.

"Since Jo was murdered, there has been no time because of the public nature of how it happened, because of Jo's position that she was in - it's been a constant rollercoaster

"I know all the facts, I know what happened, I sat through the trial - I've got all that information, but have I actually processed that and understood what that means for the rest of my life?

"No, I don't think I have, and I think that's going to take a long time, an awfully long time."

Jo Cox's widower Brendan
Neil Hall/Reuters

Organisers said the Great Get Together, to be held this weekend, will see thousands of people hold picnics or community gatherings to remember Mrs Cox but also to reflect her philosophy of unity.

"We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us," the MP told Parliament in her maiden speech after election in 2015.

When the event is over, Miss Leadbeater will allow herself more space to grieve, she said.

She said: "There's a lot of stuff that I still haven't dealt with, and I guess that's where maybe counselling or some advice on how to cope with that would come in.

"We have been so busy focusing on creating a legacy for Jo, which is exactly what we want to do, but that has to slow down at some point.

"I've had moments. I've broken down in tears at the traffic lights and I remember sitting on the steps at home at 4 o'clock in the morning just uncontrollably crying.

"But they have actually been quite sporadic and I think I need a bit more time to really understand what's happened."

Miss Leadbeater said that while the family had been "extremely, unbelievably unlucky", she added: "the reality is, the way that the world is at the moment, bad things do happen".

She said: "You couldn't have foreseen it. No one knew that was going to happen, but then that happens to people all the time, with the bombings and the terror attacks in recent years.

Thomas Mair, who shot and stabbed Jo Cox (West Yorkshire Police )
West Yorkshire Police

"I think that will take a lot of understanding, but what you have to then do is think actually the majority of people are good people, and we have just been unbelievably unlucky that our life has been affected by somebody who wasn't a good person.

"But you have to try and move forward from that and focus on how most people are actually really good and really kind."

Miss Leadbeater said she does not waste time thinking about Mair or the trial, describing it as a "job" the family had to go through.

She said: "I haven't thought about it since and I don't intend to think about it.

"The energy that I've got will be channelled into creating a positive legacy for Jo, rather than thinking about how she died. We will really, really focus on how she lived."

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