A week that changed the world: Crowds gather in Birstall to mourn Jo Cox

A VICAR urged everyone remembering Jo Cox to 'pledge ourselves to a better world' as he led a memorial ceremony just a few yards away from where she was killed, in the West Yorkshire town of Birstall.
A vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony JohnsonA vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony Johnson
A vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony Johnson

People gathered in the market square to mark the exact time a week ago that the Batley and Spen MP was attacked.

Ms Cox was fatally injured outside the village library and tributes to her placed around a nearby statue have grown over the last seven days to form a carpet of thousands of flowers, messages and balloons.

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A vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony JohnsonA vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony Johnson
A vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony Johnson

More than 100 people ringed the makeshift memorial for moments of silence, hymns and eulogies led by the vicar of St Peter’s Church, the Reverend Paul Knight.

Rev Knight told the crowd, who held hands around the memorial: “We’re meeting seven days on from the tragedy that hit our community when our MP, Jo Cox, was brutally killed.

“We’re meeting today to remember her, to pray for her family and to pledge ourselves to a better world.

A vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony JohnsonA vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony Johnson
A vigil in Birstall's market place marking a week since the the murder of MP Jo Cox. Picture: Tony Johnson
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“To pledge ourselves to unity, because that was certainly one of Jo’s passions.”

Thomas Mair, 52, from Birstall, will go on trial in the autumn charged with murdering Mrs Cox, grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of a knife.