Robinson handed 18-month jail term for court breach

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been jailed for 18 months for contempt of court after he admitted breaching an injunction preventing him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee.

- 

The 41-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was accused of “thumbing his nose at the court” in front of millions of people by breaching the 2021 High Court order on multiple occasions, including airing a documentary at a rally in Trafalgar Square in July. In a ruling on Friday, Mr Justice Johnson sentenced him to 18 months in prison for the “flagrant” breaches of the court order.

Robinson appeared wearing a grey suit and waistcoat at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday. He 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 saluted the public gallery and pumped his chest as he left the dock.

At the start of the hearing, Robinson confirmed he had admitted to 10 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 thenschoolboy was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.

However, defamatory allegations against the schoolboy were repeated in six podcast and YouTube interviews undertaken by Robinson since February last year, including with Jordan Peterson.