Robinson trial verdict delayed as anti-Islam activist flies to Israel

FORMER EDL LEADER DENIES FAILING TO COMPLY WITH ANTI-TERROR LAWS

- By TED HENNESSEY and GEORGE LITHGOW

Tommy Robinson outside Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday

(BEN WHITLEY)

THE trial of anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson on charges relating to his arrest in Folkestone last year has had its verdict delayed as he flies to Israel as a “guest of the government”.

Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, denies failing to comply with counter-terrorism powers at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone on July 28 last year, by refusing to give up the pin for his phone.

He could be jailed for up to three months if he is found guilty.

In a hearing on Tuesday (October 14), Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that Robinson was due to travel to Israel the following day, and will return on Saturday next week (October 25).

He was arrested on July 28 last year, after police stopped a silver Bentley Bentayga in which he was travelling to Benidorm, in Spain.

Police became suspicious of Robinson’s “vague replies” about what he was doing and demanded access to his iPhone under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act.

The Act gives police the power to stop anyone passing through a UK port “to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.

Robinson denies failing to comply with the counter-terrorism powers during the incident.