Emotional scenes in Yorkshire as hundreds of mourners line the streets for funeral cortege of MP Jo Cox
They are saying their goodbyes to the mum-of-two who died from knife and gunshot wounds
MURDERED MP Jo Cox is being laid to rest today - almost a month to the day she was repeatedly stabbed and shot to death outside her constituency surgery.
Loved ones of the 41-year-old mum-of-two are saying their goodbyes at a private funeral in Batley, West Yorkshire.
Hundreds of people have lined the streets to pay their respects to the "rising star" whose death sent shock waves around the world.
Well-wishers have been throwing flowers onto the hearse as it travels through the town where Mrs Cox was murdered.
Pupils from Jo Cox's old school, Heckmondwike Grammar, are wearing yellow ribbons today in memory of their former head girl.
While children from Norristhorpe Primary threw flowers onto the funeral cortege for their local MP.
Former Coronation Street star Tracy Brabin was also among those who watched from the sidelines as her consituents paid their respects.
Many applauded Mrs Cox's hearse passed them in the street, while others broke down in tears.
Flowers lay on the Yorkshire cobblestones after the funeral cortege travelled through Batley Market Place in her constituency.
Mrs Cox is the first female MP to have been murdered after being attacked outside the library in Birstall, West Yorkshire on June 16.
Her husband Brendan, and two young children Lejla and Cuillin, will join Mrs Cox's parents Gordon and Jean Leadbeater and her sister Kim for the private service.
This morning he paid tribute to the 84 "victims of hatred" killed in a French terror attack ahead of the MP's funeral later today.
He said she would want people to "draw together to drain the swamp that extremism breeds in".
He made the comments after a truck ploughed into crowd celebrating Bastille Day in Nice - killing and injuring up to 100 people.
Mrs Cox had only been an MP for just over a year, having been elected for the Batley and Spen constituency where she grew up, in last year's general election.
Her dedication to a range of causes, both as an MP and in her previous work with development charities, has drawn praise from all sides of the political spectrum and prompted calls for a rethink of the public's attitude to public figures and the nature of political discourse.
On June 22, Mrs Cox's widower led tributes to his wife, joining thousands of people across the country and around the world who paused on what would have been her 42nd birthday to reflect on a woman who "just wanted people to be happy".
The life and death of Labour MP Jo Cox: Rising star cut down in her prime
TRAGIC Labour MP Jo Cox died from multiple stab and gunshot wounds after being attacked outside her constituency surgery in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on June 16.
She was born Helen Joanne Leadbeater in Batley on June 22, 1974.
She was one of two daughters of Gordon, a cosmetics factory worker, and his wife, Jean, who was a school secretary.
Jo worked in the same factory as her dad, packaging toothpaste during the holidays, before being accepted at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where she studied a social and political degree.
After graduating in 1995 she became a political adviser for the former Labour MP Joan Walley.
She then headed up key campaigns with Britain in Europe and for Glenys Kinnock, then a member of the European parliament, before joining Oxfam in 2002.
There she worked as head of the EU office until 2005, of policy and advocacy until 2007, and of humanitarian campaigning until 2009.
She was elected into Parliament in May 2015 where she strongly campaigned for charity Oxfam and fought to see the UK provide aid to help Syrian refugees fleeing the country’s civil war.
Before her death, Jo lived a happy life on a barge on the River Thames with her husband, Brendan Cox, and their two children, Lejla and Cuillin.
On June 16, a week before her 42nd birthday, she was blasted by a gunman as she arrived at Birstall library, West Yorks for her constituency surgery.
She died on the street, cradled by her assistant, from multiple stab and gunshot wounds.
Before this, former Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn visited Birstall market square together to add their tributes to a sea of floral memorials yards from where the tragedy happened.
Mr Cameron had praised the young MP as "a voice of compassion whose irrepressible spirit and boundless energy lit up the lives of all who knew her".
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Mr Corbyn said British society had lost "one of our very best".
At the time, Mrs Cox's family issued a statement, which said: "We have been overwhelmed and touched by the love and support people have shown us since Jo's death.
"We are deeply grateful to all who have reached out to us.
"Knowing that so many people share both our grief and our determination to take forward Jo's legacy is a source of great strength at what otherwise feels like a very bleak time.
"Now, particularly for the children, we have decided that Jo's funeral will be a very small and private family affair.
"Anybody from the local community who would like to pay their respects is welcome to gather along the areas outlined as we make this last journey.
"Following this we would ask everyone to respect our privacy to enable us to grieve and rebuild as a family."
We have been overwhelmed and touched by the love and support people have shown us since Jo's death.
Family
West Yorkshire Police said the cortege will slow down for the public to pay their respects in the centre of Heckmondwike and then in Batley market place.
Since Mrs Cox's death calls have grown for a pensioner who came to her aid to be officially honoured.
Former miner Bernard Kenny, 78, was released from hospital after he was stabbed in the abdomen trying to save the MP outside Birstall library.
An inquest in Mrs Cox's death was opened and adjourned last month after hearing she died from multiple stab and gunshot wounds.
Thomas Mair, 52, has appeared at the Old Bailey in central London charged with murdering Mrs Cox.
He is also charged with grievous bodily harm, possession of a firearm with intent to commit an indictable offence and possession of an offensive weapon.
He is remanded in custody and due to go on trial in November.
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