To neighbors, Tommy Mair is a “quiet” man who tended their gardens in the small town of Birstall in northern England.
To police, the 52-year-old is reportedly the prime suspect in the killing of Jo Cox, a British lawmaker described as a fearless campaigner and star of the opposition Labour Party. He was arrested blocks from the crime scene.
The member of Parliament was shot and stabbed as she emerged from a meeting with her constituents Thursday a week before an increasingly divisive vote on whether Britain should cut ties with Europe.
Now evidence is emerging that Mair may have had an interest in white supremacy.
The U.S.-based Southern Poverty Law Center has published what it says are documents showing that Mair has a history of purchasing material from the National Alliance white supremacist organization based in the United States.
The center released copies of receipts and a 2013 subscription to the National Alliance’s publication National Vanguard as well as receipts from 1999 showing purchases for neo-Nazi book “Ich Kampfe, the “Improvised Munitions Handbook” and other books.
CNN has learned that Mair subscribed to a pro-apartheid group’s magazine in the 1980s.
“A Mr. Thomas A. Mair from Batley in Yorkshire subscribed to our magazine S.A. Patriot when we were still published in South Africa itself,” magazine editor A.D. Harvey told CNN, adding the publication had “no further contact with him” after brief correspondence in the mid-1980s.
“We were of course appalled and sickened to learn of the murder yesterday, of Ms. Jo Cox,” Harvey said.
Britain First group denies ties
It is still too early to know what motivated the attack, which came as the 41-year-old lawmaker campaigned for “Stronger In,” a slogan backing the UK to remain in the European Union in next week’s referendum.
Cox was an avid campaigner for the rights of refugees and played down fears of immigration, a hot-button issue in the referendum debate.
One witness, Clarke Rothwell who runs a cafe near where Cox was attacked, told the Press Association that he heard the attacker shouting “put Britain first.”
Britain First is the name of a UK political party that has been campaigning for Britain to leave the EU.
On Thursday, the party’s leader, Paul Golding, denied the group was linked to the attack, calling the act “a downright despicable act of criminality.”
“There’s no evidence whatsoever that Britain First was shouted. Or putting British people first,” he said in a lengthy video posted to Facebook.
“The media are acting grossly irresponsible to try and incriminate our organization Britain First in this heinous crime. We had nothing to do with it,” he said.
‘Never been in trouble,’ half brother says
West Yorkshire police said they had seized a number of weapons, including a firearm shortly after the attack.
A half brother, Duane St Louis, told ITV News he’d never seen any sign that Mair had an interest in knives or guns.
Asked whether Mair was racist, St Louis said “no chance.” He said Mair had “never been in trouble” and that “he wouldn’t hurt a fly,” ITV reported.
St Louis said he’d last seen him three weeks ago. He said he’d spoken to Mair’s mother after the attack and said she was “shocked and can’t understand what happened.”
Report of mental health issues
Six years ago, Mair was quoted in the local newspaper regarding his work as a volunteer at Oakwell Hall, a manor house popular with tourists in Birstall.
Mair told the Huddersfield Examiner that voluntary work had “done me more good than all the psychotherapy and medication in the world.”
“Many people who suffer from mental illness are socially isolated and disconnected from society, feelings of worthlessness are also common, mainly caused by long-term unemployment,” he was quoted as saying.
Mair learned about the volunteering opportunity from the Mirfield-based Pathways Day Centre for adults with mental health problems, according to the paper.
‘He kept himself to himself’
Neighbors in Birstall expressed surprised that Mair, a long-term resident who lived on his own, could be involved in the attack.
“He’s just quiet. He kept himself to himself. He lived by himself. He’s been on his own for about 20 years,” David Pickles told the Press Association.
“I’ve never seen a lot of people visiting or anything like that, but he likes gardening. He did a lot of people’s gardens round here. But he did it quietly,” he added.
Police cordoned off a house about a 15 minutes’ walk from the attack site, which neighbors said belonged to Mair. Officers could be seen coming and going from the property.
Police haven’t charged Mair, who was taken into custody after officers pinned him to the ground on a nearby street shortly after the attack, according to the Press Association.
