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 West 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 Sir David, Conservative MP for Southend West, in Parliament later.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will lead MPs as they pay their respects and share memories from 15:30 BST, after prayers and a minute's silence. There will then be a service at St Margaret's Church, next to Parliament, at which the Archbishop of Canterbury will give an address.

Sir David, 69, had been meeting constituents in Leigh-on-Sea, 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".

They described him as strong and courageous, a patriot and a man of peace, adding: "We ask people to set aside their differences and show kindness and love to all. Please let some good come from this tragedy.

"We are absolutely broken, but we will survive and carry on for the sake of a wonderful and inspiring man."

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Mr Cox said when he heard the news about Sir David, 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 also told BBC Breakfast that when he heard the news: "I found it very hard to function. I picked the kids up from school and went away for the weekend, just to try and get away from it all."

Mr Cox said he felt "terrible sadness for the family, knowing what they're going through", with the realisation that "the worst possible thing you could ever imagine in your life has just happened".

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".

Their children are "very proud" of her and he makes sure they "keep her very human" by remembering all aspects of her personality.

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, saying: "It really did give us that sense of solidarity of kindness in a world which at that moment feels incredibly unkind."

Both the attack on his wife, and that on Sir David, were an "attack on our democracy", he added - but democracy is the very thing that "binds us together - it is one of the things that is our strength".

Mr Cox added that the message of unity from Sir David's family was so important because society needs to change its response to terrorism.

"It's about denying terrorists what they want," he said. "They want that division so let's give them togetherness. They want that infamy so let's give them neglect, let's not put their pictures on the front page of newspapers - we have to stop playing into the hands of being the inadvertent amplifiers of terrorism."

More MPs have opened up about their own personal safety following the death of their colleague.

Many have spoken of a toxic and increasingly polarised political culture where online trolling has become widespread, ranging from personal insults at one end of the spectrum to direct threats of violence and even death at the other.

Labour MP Tulip Sadiq told BBC Breakfast all MPs, especially women, are subject to attack and that her mother feared for her doing the job.

She said being an MP had had a "constant effect" on her family for years, especially her parents.

Sir David's neighbouring MP in Southend, Conservative James Duddridge, said: "No-one that loves me, none of my friends would want me to be a Member of Parliament.

"The only reason they support it is because they know that that's what I believe is an honourable thing to do, a worthwhile thing to do, something I'd always wanted to do, something that I have enjoyed. "

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said he had received "three threats to life and limb" over the past two years - but he does not want to "allow those who attack our democracy" to win.

And Labour's Chris Bryant said a man had been arrested over a death threat he received over the weekend.

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He also said it is right to look at MPs' security, but people should not "pretend that's going to fix the problem".

Concerns have been raised about the safety of politicians following Sir David's death. Home Secretary Priti Patel and Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle are working on measures to protect MPs and police forces have been asked to review their security arrangements with immediate effect.

Detectives are continuing to hold the 25-year-old man in connection with Sir David's death and have until Friday to question him.

Whitehall officials confirmed the man's name as Ali Harbi Ali, and said he was a British man of Somali heritage.

The BBC understands he was referred to the counter-terrorist Prevent scheme some years ago, but was never a formal subject of interest to MI5.

It also understands that his father, Harbi Ali Kullane, who was previously an adviser to Somalia's prime minister, has been visited by police who have taken his phone for analysis.

Police officers have spent the weekend searching three addresses in London.

It is thought a converted Victorian property in Lady Somerset Road in north-west London is linked to the investigation. Neighbours said officers started searching it late on Friday night.

Further searches, also believed to be part of the inquiry, have been taking place at a property in Bounds Green Road, north London, and another in Cranmer Road, Croydon, south London.

The police cordon outside the church in Eastwood Road North, Leigh-on-Sea, where Sir David was stabbed to death has now been lifted. Flowers have been left outside Belfairs Methodist Church and uniformed police officers remain at the scene.