The widower of MP Jo Cox is set to marry a domestic abuse campaigner seven years after the murder of his beloved first wife.
Brendan Cox, who campaigns on behalf of victims’ families, was introduced to Anna Ryder through a mutual friend two years ago.
The 44-year-old father said: ‘We are both very much looking forward to celebrating with our families.’
Anna, 37, is director of Killed Women, a network which works to support the bereaved families of victims of domestic violence.
Labour MP Jo was fatally shot and stabbed by a far right extremist as she attended her Batley and Spen constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in June 2016.
Brendan Cox, 44, was introduced to Anna Ryder, 37, through a mutual friend two years ago
Labour MP Jo 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
White supremacist Thomas Mair was jailed for life for her murder later that year.
Since her tragic death, Brendan has focused on raising the couple’s children, Cuillin, 12, and Lejla, ten, alongside his campaigning.
He has relentlessly worked to support survivors of terror attacks and co-founded the Together Coalition, which aims to ‘build kinder, closer and more connected communities’.
The Jo Cox Foundation was also set up in his wife’s memory, and works to spread the dedicated MP’s message of unity from her maiden speech in Parliament, where she said: ‘we have more in common than that which divides us’.
Jo and Brendan married in 2009 and their children were aged just five and three at the time of her death.
Brendan and Anna’s families are said to be supportive of their marriage and the couple are reportedly planning a woodland ceremony in Herefordshire.
A source told The Sun: ‘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.’
Jo Cox was brutally murdered by loner Mair, while she was at a local surgery for her constituents.
Jo Cox’s killer Thomas Mair, 53, had researched ‘matricide’ online and may have been on his way to kill his mother when police arrested him
Mair, 53, 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.
Her 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 Mrs Cox 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 the Labour MP 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’.
During his trial. a jury later heard the savage had researched Tory Ian Gow – the last sitting MP murdered when he was killed by the IRA in 1990 – and Conservative Yorkshire MP William Hague, who also backed Remain, before carrying out his attack.
