Jo Cox death: suspect ‘bought gun guides from neo-Nazis’

The man arrested over the killing of the MP Jo Cox bought books from a US-based neo-Nazi group, including guides on how to build homemade guns and explosives, according an anti-hate campaign group in the United States.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) published receipts that appeared to show Thomas Mair bought, among other books, a manual on how to make a homemade pistol from the National Alliance.

The receipts, some of which date back to the 1990s, showed Mair spent more than $620 (€550) on literature from the group, which advocates the creation of an all-white homeland and the eradication of Jewish people.

He bought books that instructed readers on the “chemistry of powder & explosives”, “incendiaries”, and a work called Improvised Munitions Handbook. The handbook included detailed instructions on constructing a pipe pistol using parts available in DIY stores.

Receipted items also included Ich Kampfe, an illustrated handbook issued to members of the Nazi party in 1942.

Heidi Beirich, the leader of the SPLC’s Intelligence Project, said the group had obtained transaction records from members of the National Alliance.

Witnesses claimed Mair shouted "Britain first" during the attack on the Labour MP. The far-right political party Britain First said afterwards it was not involved in the attack and "would never encourage behaviour of this sort".

There were also reports that Mair was named as a subscriber to SA Patriot, a South African magazine published by White Rhino Club, a pro-apartheid group. The club describes the magazine's editorial stance as being opposed to "multicultural societies" and "expansionist Islam".

The National Alliance was founded in 1974 by William Pierce, from an earlier group called the National Youth Alliance, which emerged from the support of the segregationist demagogue, Alabama governor and three-time presidential candidate George Wallace. A book by Pierce, who died in 2002, was an inspiration for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people, according to the bomber, Timothy McVeigh.

– (Guardian service)