Belfast vigil held in tribute to MP Jo Cox

The Labour party MP was killed on Thursday in Birstall, West Yorkshire.

The vigil was held outside Belfast City Hall and was organised by members of the Labour Party in Northern Ireland to express their “shock, outrage and sadness”.

As the Belfast vigil was taking place churchgoers were told in the village where she was killed that she was a “21st century Good Samaritan”.

The Rev Paul Knight told a congregation at St Peter’s Church in the West Yorkshire community that the 41-year-old MP was “someone with whom Jesus would have been so pleased”.

He said: “Her humanity was powerful and compelling and we would do well to recognise her as an amazing example - a 21st century Good Samaritan.”

Mr Knight said: “Jo was someone who went out of her way to help others.

“I regret to say I didn’t know what she was like as a girl but she grew into a fervent advocate for the poor and oppressed.

“And though she must have been angry at times about what she saw here and around the world - those places she visited and worked - she seemed to me, at least, to be one who could fight with a passion and a disarming smile.”

Mr Knight was speaking as Mrs Cox’s husband Brendan tweeted: “Jo loved camping. Last night the kids & I camped in her memory& remembered the last time we were all woken by the dawn chorus #MoreInCommon”

Prayers were said at St Peter’s for Mr Cox and the couple’s two young children.

Thomas Mair, 52, has appeared before Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged with the murder of Mrs Cox.

A memorial fund set up in her name has topped £600,000.