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Jo Cox's body released to family

The body of murdered British MP Jo Cox has been released to her family after an inquest determined she died from multiple stab wounds and gunshots.

Jo Cox
Labour MP Jo Cox died from multiple stab and gunshot wounds, a coroner has been told. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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The body of British Labour MP Jo Cox has been released to her family so they can "get on with the grieving process", a coroner has ruled, more than a week after her death sent shockwaves around the globe.

The inquest heard a second post-mortem examination was not required on the body of the 41-year-old, who died on Thursday last week after being attacked outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

Sitting at Bradford Coroners Court on Friday, coroner Martin Fleming confirmed the mother-of-two died from multiple stab and gunshot wounds.

Detective Superintendent Nick Wallen, of West Yorkshire Police, told the six-minute hearing that it was immediately clear to paramedics and police attending the crime scene that Cox was "very seriously injured indeed".

Wallen said medics worked to save her life but she was pronounced dead by a doctor in an ambulance outside Birstall library on June 16.

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The detective said lawyers for Thomas Mair, the man charged with murdering the Batley and Spen MP, did not require a second post-mortem examination.

The coroner said this meant he could release Cox's body "so the family can get on with the grieving process".

The inquest was adjourned until the completion of the criminal case.

None of Cox's family were in court for the hearing.

Wallen gave brief details about what happened in Birstall, saying the first injured person spotted by police and paramedics was Bernard Kenny - the pensioner who was stabbed as he came to Cox's aid.

The officer told the court: "On Thursday, June 16 2016, at just after 12.52pm, both the police and ambulance service were called by a number of emergency calls to Market Street in Birstall town centre where initial information was that a man armed with a gun and knife had attacked and seriously injured a man and a woman.

"Police officers and paramedics arrived quickly at the scene and firstly found a male named Bernard Carter Kenny, aged 77, being tended to by members of the public.

"He had sustained a stab wound to the abdomen."

Wallen said the emergency services also found a woman being tended to by members of the public "who, it was immediately clear, was very seriously injured indeed".

He said: "A number of people informed the police that the lady was Jo Cox, member of parliament for Batley and Spen."

The detective said Cox was taken into an ambulance by paramedics and emergency doctors who "tended to her but were unable to save her life".

He said she was pronounced dead at 1.48pm.

Wallen confirmed that Mair has been charged with murder and other offences and is due to appear at the Old Bailey again later this year.

Cox's death prompted a huge wave of shock and emotion around the UK and across the world.

Her widower Brendan and their children marked what would have been Cox's 42nd birthday at an event in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday along with people at gatherings around the world.


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