
Ex-English Defence Leader (EDL) Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, has been sentenced to 18 months behind bars. It comes after Islamphobic Yaxley-Lennon admitted contempt of court by perpetuating disinformation against a Syrian refugee, in breach of an injunction.
He admitted 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021 at the start of a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court earlier today (Monday, October 28). Lawyers for the Solicitor General claimed the 41-year-old had been “thumbing his nose at the court” and “undermining” the rule of law, including by publishing a film called Silenced, which contains the libellous allegations, last year.
Barristers for Robinson, who wore a grey suit and white shirt, said it was his “principles that have brought him before the court”. 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: “It was a planned, deliberate, direct, flagrant breach of the court’s orders.” He continued: “Nobody is above the law. Nobody can pick and choose which injunctions they obey and those they do not.”
He added: “It is in the interests of the whole community that injunctions are obeyed.” 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 saluted the public gallery and pumped his chest as he left the dock. His supporters packed the public gallery and stood outside the court on Monday, with some in court waving and blowing kisses to Robinson as he was led from the dock.
Robinson had been barred from repeating false allegations against Jamal Hijazi after the then-schoolboy 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, including by having “published, caused, authorised or procured” Silenced in May last year.
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.
Lawyers for the Solicitor General told an earlier hearing that showing the film at the demonstration was a “flagrant” breach of the court order. In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Johnson said: “As to harm, the primary harm caused is the corrosive effect it has on the administration of justice and the ability of courts to deliver justice.” He continued: “The defendant has not shown any remorse for his breaches of the order. It would have been surprising had he done so.
