Brendan Cox, the widower of Jo Cox, has confirmed he is preparing to remarry, seven years after his late wife was killed.
Jo died after being shot and stabbed outside a library in her constituency in Birstall, west Yorkshire, in 2016.
Now, Brendan is set to marry Anna Ryder, the director of a network called Killed Women, which campaigns on behalf of relatives of victims of fatal domestic violence.
Brendan, 44, and Anna, 37, were introduced through a mutual friend two years ago. He told The Sun: “We are both very much looking forward to celebrating with our families.”
According to the newspaper, they are planning to hold a woodland ceremony in Herefordshire.
Brendan also appeared on ITV’s Lorraine programme today (Wednesday 21 June) and opened up about his relationship.
He said he “never thought” he would find love again after Jo’s murder, to which host Lorraine Kelly responded: “Jo wouldn’t have wanted you to be on your own.”
Brendan explained: “Actually, before Jo died, a friend of ours tragically lost their husband and we talked about it at the time about what we would do if one of us ever died.
“We were both of the view that… we should get married next week. I always knew she would want that. But I never thought it would happen because when you lose someone like Jo you never think you’ll find somebody with the energy and the love and the enthusiasm and the excitement that Jo had.”
He added: “I’m incredibly lucky that I have.”
Brendan and Jo share two children, Cuillin and Lejla, who he said told him he was “never going to do any better than Anna” when he asked them for their opinion.
“I think [it] was supposed to be a nice thing and a compliment,” he joked. “But they’re very excited about it.”
Jo, a Labour MP who Brendan described as someone who “believed in a better world”, was killed by extreme rightwing terrorist Thomas Alexander Mair in November 2016. He was found guilty of her murder and other offences related to the killing in an act of terrorism.
Following her death, Brendan said in a statement: “Today is the beginning of a new chapter in our lives. More difficult, more painful, less joyful, less full of love. I and Jo’s friends and family are going to work every moment of our lives to love and nurture our kids and to fight against the hate that killed Jo.
“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy, and a zest for life that would exhaust most people.”
He added that Jo “would have wanted two things above all else to happen now, one that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her”.
“Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous,” Brendan continued. "Jo would have no regrets about her life, she lived every day of it to the full."
After her death, Brendan founded the Together Coalition, which supports survivors of terror attacks. The Jo Cox Foundation was also set up in her memory and aims to spread her message of unity.
The couple married in 2009. Their children were five and three when Jo died.
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