British lawmaker Jo Cox’s murderer was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday. Cox was shot and stabbed in Birstall, Northern England, a week before the referendum on Britain leaving the European Union (commonly referred to as Brexit). Cox was a vocal supporter of Britain remaining in the EU. The country voted to leave the EU in June.

Thomas Mair, 53, shot Cox three times and stabbed her repeatedly when she came out after a meeting with residents of the district on June 16. During the attack, Mair reportedly shouted “Britain first” and “Keep Britain independent”. Even during his trial, he said “death to traitors, freedom for Britain”. After his arrest, Mair told the police that he was a political activist. However, while delivering the verdict, Judge Alan Wilkie said, “You are no patriot. It is clear... that your inspiration is not love of country or your fellow citizens, it is an admiration for Nazism and similar anti-democratic, white supremacist creeds.”

Investigators said Mair researched Nazi figures, the Ku Klux Klan and Dylann Roof, the man who killed nine black parishioners at a South Carolina church, while he was planning the attack. His trial was completed in eight days, during which he remained silent and refused to explain his actions. He was also charged with causing bodily harm to a 77-year-old man who tried to save Cox. The police are investigating how Mair got hold of the gun, and whether anyone else was involved in the crime. The gun he used was reportedly stolen around a year before the attack.

Cox’s husband said, “To the person who did this, we have nothing but pity that his life was devoid of love and consumed with hatred, that this became his desperate and cowardly attempt to find meaning.”