The family of murdered MP Jo Cox have thanked the public for their support on the second anniversary of her death.
The 41-year-old Labour politician and mother-of-two was killed by neo-Nazi terrorist Thomas Mair in her Batley and Spen constituency two years ago today.
Last year the family organised the Great Get Together - a network of community events in recognition of Mrs Cox’s passion for combating loneliness.
The national celebration has been moved back a weekend, to what would have been Mrs Cox’s 44th birthday, to allow the family to mark the anniversary of her death separately.
In a statement, the family said: “Today marks two years since the murder of our beloved Jo.
“She is in our thoughts every single day, and the passage of time does not diminish our feelings of loss or our sadness at no longer having her wonderful, joyful and endlessly positive presence in our lives.
“We will be spending the day together privately as a family and remembering all the goodness she brought to our world and not the way she was taken from it.
“Jo had a profound effect not just on those of us who loved her dearly, but on everybody she met.
“And we have been deeply touched by all the thousands of messages from people who were never fortunate enough to meet her in person, but who have been inspired by her example and above all by her compassion.
“We will never fully understand or come to terms with the senseless manner of her death.
“But we remain eternally grateful to all those who have supported us in trying to make sure that the response to her murder is a rejection of the hatred and extremism that led to it.
“A year ago this weekend we were joined by millions of people celebrating the Great Get Together in Jo’s memory. It was a wonderful experience and it helped us get through that first, very difficult anniversary.
“This year we decided to move the events to next weekend which would have been Jo’s 44th birthday.
“The love and support shown by so many people is a real comfort to us all at this time. But more importantly it is a tribute to the one person we would give anything to have with us this weekend. To Jo.”
A series of events to mark the Great Get Together are being held in Huddersfield and Kirklees including a family day and football event at Leeds Road 3G pitches on Saturday June 23 and Run for Jo at Oakwell Hall, Birstall, on Sunday June 24.
