British woman MP shot dead: 8 facts about Jo Cox

A 41-year-old British woman MP was killed yesterday after being shot and stabbed in her constituency in northern England, sending shock waves through the nation. Here's what we know about the late politician.

Jo Cox. Pic/AFP

Cox was a member of the British Labour Party, and a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Batley and Spen.

She won the constituency during the 2015 General Election, and had been in Parliament for just over a year, from her election in May 2015 until her death.

She was due to celebrate her 42nd birthday on June 22 and had been spoken of as a future minister for the Labour party due to her reputation as a strong politician and plain speaker.

Floral tributes and candles are placed by a picture of slain Labour MP Jo Cox at a vigil in Parliament square in London on June 16, 2016. Pic/AFP

In 2007, she was appointed as the head of Oxfam International's humanitarian campaigns in New York.

Cox even worked as an advisor to Sarah Brown (wife of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown), who was heading a campaign to prevent deaths in pregnancy and childbirth.

She was married to Brendan Cox, who served as an adviser on international development to Gordon Brown.

Apart from her husband, Cox is survived by two children aged three and five.

Cox is the first sitting MP to be killed since 1990, when Ian Gow was the last in a string of politicians to die at the hands of Northern Irish terror groups.