Sir David Amess death: Jo Cox's husband had 'physical reaction' to killing

The widower of murdered MP Jo Cox has spoken of his "very physical reaction" to the killing of Sir David Amess.

Brendan Cox said he was put back "in that moment five years ago" when he learned his wife had been killed by a right-wing extremist in Yorkshire.

He said he felt "a wave of emotion" for Sir David's family and applauded their statement calling for togetherness.

MPs are due to pay tribute to Conservative MP Sir David in Parliament later.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead MPs as they pay their respects and share memories from 15:30 BST, ahead of a service at St Margaret's Church, next to Parliament.

Sir David, 69, had been meeting constituents in Essex when he was stabbed multiple times on Friday. A 25-year-old British man is being held under the Terrorism Act.

The family of Sir David have said their hearts are shattered and called for people to "set aside hatred and work towards togetherness".

They added that the "wonderful" tributes paid to the father-of-five had given them strength but that they are still trying to understand "why this awful thing has occurred... nobody should die in that way".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Cox said he was immediately taken back to getting the phone call being told about what had happened to his wife.

She was Labour MP for Batley and Spen when she was killed in Birstall, where a constituency surgery was due to take place, in 2016. Her sister Kim Leadbeater is now the MP for the area.

"Being back in that moment was very hard," Mr Cox said of when he learned Sir David, MP for Southend West since 1997, had been fatally stabbed on Friday.

"And then just a wave of emotion, of sadness, of sorrow for what his family would be going through having gone through something very similar, knowing those first moments where you hear about the attack but hope that it will be OK through to those moments when you get told and then you have to tell other people."

He said for his two children, "hearing about this over the weekend does bring it all back". They speak about their mother all the time, he added, and she is "an ongoing force in our family".

The outpouring of grief for Sir David will be a comfort for his family, said Mr Cox, as it was for him when his wife was killed. The public reaction "really did make a difference to us", he added, "in a world which at that moment feels incredibly unkind".

It is right to look at MPs' security, but people should not "pretend that's going to fix the problem", he added.