COCKY Tommy Robinson is a walking target in a “mental torture jail” and his fame and confidence single him out, an ex-cop has said.
Robinson has been jailed for 18 months for contempt of court after showing a film containing slurs about a Syrian refugee at a protest.
Tommy Robinson has been jailed for 18 months[/caption]
The 41-year-old missed a protest held on Saturday, where thousands of his supporters gathered in central London[/caption]
A Court artist drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Robinson in the dock yesterday[/caption]
Ex-Met Police cop Graham Wettone said Robinson is a walking target in prison[/caption]
The 41-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, breached a 2021 High Court order barring him from repeating the false claims.
Robinson was found in contempt of court over having “published, caused, authorised or procured” a film which contained the libellous allegations.
The Solicitor General said he “knowingly” breached the order on four occasions.
Robinson said a previous spell in prison in 2018 amounted to “mental torture” – fearing he would be “killed in custody”.
Ex-Met Police officer Graham Wettone said Robinson’s latest jail stint will be just as gruelling.
Graham Wettone told The Sun: “Prisoners don’t always like people with a famous persona.
“Could he become a target? I think the prison authorities will be well aware of him and his background.
“He has an air of confidence about him that might not go down that well with some people within the prison.
“But also it will go down well with others, so I think he’s going to fall between the two. Is he at risk from some people? Possibly.
“Just because of who he is and the things he said and the following he has, he’s automatically a potential target.”
The far-right activist was accused of being in contempt of court after the airing of the film Silenced at a protest in Trafalgar Square in July.
The 41-year-old appeared in the dock wearing a grey suit and waistcoat with no tie.
At the start of the hearing, Aidan Eardley KC, for the Solicitor General, said a “resolution” had been reached over the allegations.
Asked by Mr Justice Johnson whether he accepted he had committed the breaches, Robinson nodded and replied “Yes”.
Robinson had been barred from repeating false allegations against then-schoolboy Jamal Hijazi, who successfully sued him for libel.
The Solicitor General issued the first contempt claim against Robinson in June this year, claiming he “knowingly” breached the order on four occasions.
Lawyers previously told a judge that the breaches included Robinson having “published, caused, authorised or procured” a film titled Silenced, which contained the libellous allegations, in May last year.
Sasha Wass KC, for Robinson, told the court that the film’s production was funded by Infowars, a company run by American Alex Jones, who has claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
The film remains pinned to the top of Robinson’s profile on social media site X, while he also repeated the claims in three interviews between February and June 2023.
The second claim was issued in August, concerning six further breaches, including playing the film to a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in central London earlier this year, which lawyers for the Solicitor General told an earlier hearing was a “flagrant” breach of the court order.
Mr Eardley told the court the second claim was issued after “continuing concerning behaviour by Mr Yaxley-Lennon”.
He continued that the film was viewed “very extensively”, including being seen by 2.2 million people after being reposted by Andrew Tate.
And, he said in written submissions that by the time the second claim was issued, it “had received 44m views on X alone”.
Mr Eardley said: “Because of the nature of the film is to effectively re-run the case that failed at trial, it substantially repeats all the allegations made at trial.”
He claimed that all of the paragraphs of the injunction were breached “at one point or another” by the film.
Mr Eardley said in written submissions that the court “can be sure that the defendant was responsible for the publication of the film” and “also intended that it should be shared as widely as possible via other channels”.
In court, he said it was Robinson’s “declared intention to disobey the order”, adding: “It is a continual breach.
“This material is still out there.
“He could take it off Twitter if he wanted to.”
Mr Eardley continued: “The harm here is that millions of people could see Mr Yaxley-Lennon thumbing his nose at the court.”
He added: “This is not a case about Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s political views.
“It is not even directly a case about freedom of expression.
“It is a case about the disobedience to a court order, and the undermining of the rule of law that goes with that.”
Robinson could be seen to laugh, shake his head and silently mouth words to himself throughout the hearing, and at times stood up in the dock to listen to proceedings.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Johnson said the breaches of the injunction were not “accidental, negligent or merely reckless” and that the “custodial threshold is amply crossed”.
He said: “Each individual breach is so serious that a non-custodial sentence could not be justified.
“The breaches of the junction are so serious that it can only be achieved by immediate custody. There is no realistic prospect of rehabilitation.”
The judge claimed Robinson “regards himself as being above the law” and slammed each “planned, deliberate and flagrant” order breach as having a “corrosive effect on the administration of justice”.
Mr Justice Johnson added: “In a democratic society underpinned by the court of law, court injunctions must be obeyed.
“Nobody is above the law. Nobody can pick and choose which laws and injunctions they obey and which they do not.”
Robinson stood with his hands on the edge of the dock and looked up at dozens of supporters, shrugging his shoulders, as the judge handed down the sentence.
He blew a kiss and waved to the public gallery as he was escorted out and down to the cells next to HMP Belmarsh.
The far-right activist would be a category D prisoner under civil legal rules but Ms Wass revealed the prison service previously kept him in “complete isolation” for his own protection.
She claimed a previous three-and-a-half-month stint in solitary confinement left him suffering nightmares, severe anxiety, panic, irritability and other symptoms of depression.
This comes after Robinson appeared at Folkestone police station on Friday where he was remanded into custody and separately charged with failing to provide his mobile phone access code to police under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
He hugged supporters waiting outside for him, who then cheered as he entered the station.
The 41-year-old missed a protest held on Saturday, where thousands of his supporters gathered in central London.
Demonstrators carried banners reading “Two tier Keir fuelled the riots” and chanted “We want Tommy out” as they marched from Victoria station to Parliament Square.
The protest was met with rival protesters from Stand Up to Racism, which called on its supporters to “take to the streets” in a “massive anti-fascist demonstration”.
It is understood five arrests were made at the demonstration, the Metropolitan Police said.
Robinson was released on unconditional bail in July and subsequently left the country.
Adam Payter, representing the Solicitor General, told the High Court there “was nothing to prevent him from doing so”.
Mr Justice Johnson issued a warrant for Robinson’s arrest but ordered that it not be carried out “until early October”.
This was to allow the 41-year-old time to indicate that he would attend the next hearing voluntarily or to apply to “set aside” the warrant.
Robinson posted a video of himself arriving at Luton Airport on October 20 and said he was surprised he had not been arrested.
He applied to set aside the warrant but his application was dismissed by Mr Justice Johnson on Friday.
WHAT HAS TOMMY ROBINSON BEEN JAILED FOR?
Mr Justice Johnson sentenced Tommy Robinson to 18 months in prison for contempt of court.
It comes after the far-right activist showed a film containing slurs about a Syrian refugee at a protest.
The 41-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday after breaching a 2021 High Court order barring him from repeating the false claims.
At the start of the hearing, Robinson confirmed he had admitted to ten breaches of the order.
The court heard Robinson had been barred from repeating false allegations against a refugee called Jamal Hijazi.
Mr Hijazi successfully sued Robinson for libel after the then-schoolboy was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
However, false claims against the schoolboy were repeated in six podcast and Youtube interviews undertaken by Robinson since February last year.
A film called Silenced, which “substantially repeats” the defamatory allegations was also published or aired on four occasions, including on X/Twitter.
It was viewed by 44 million people – and shown to crowds at a rally in Trafalgar Square in July.
Aidan Eardley KC, for the Solicitor General, told the court: “The harm here is that millions of people could see Mr Yaxley-Lennon thumbing his nose at the court.”
He added: “This is not a case about Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s political views. It is not even directly a case about freedom of expression.
“It is a case about the disobedience to a court order, and the undermining of the rule of law that goes with that.”
Meanwhile, Sasha Wass KC, for Robinson, told the court that the film’s production was funded by Infowars, a company run by American Alex Jones, who has claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
She said her client accepts his culpability because he “passionately believes in free speech” and has an “overwhelming desire that he has to expose the truth”.
Supporters of the far-right activist gathered near London’s Woolwich Crown Court[/caption]
Robinson appeared at Folkestone police station on Friday where he was remanded into custody[/caption]
