Far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon sentenced for making false claims about a refugee.
The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been jailed for 18 months for contempt of court for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee, in breach of an injunction.
He was told that “nobody is above the law” by a judge who said the breaches had been “flagrant” and done in a “sophisticated” way to ensure the false claims would reach tens of millions of people online.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had shown no remorse and there was no realistic prospect of rehabilitation, said Mr Justice Johnson, who told Woolwich crown court: “All of his actions so far suggest that he regards himself as above the law.”
However, the judge allowed for four months to be removed from the sentence if Robinson “purged” himself by removing the false claims from social media accounts he controlled. Standing in the dock, Robinson was seen to look up to supporters and mouth “no” at this point.
The hearing was told that Robinson had effectively repeated all of the allegations that led to him losing a libel case brought against him by Jamal Hijazi, who had been filmed being attacked at a school in West Yorkshire.
Shortly after the video of the incident went viral, Robinson falsely claimed in Facebook videos that Hijazi was “not innocent and he violently attacks young English girls in his school”.
The solicitor general issued two contempt claims against Robinson earlier this year, claiming he “knowingly” breached a court order on several occasions by repeating the false claims at the centre of the libel trial.
The hearing on Monday was taken through occasions when the false claims were repeated and which included interviews with figures including Gareth Icke, son of the conspiracy theorist David Icke, and in a film which Robinson went on to make. It was viewed by millions of people as a result of being shared on online platforms and by the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate.
Aidan Eardley KC, for the solicitor general, said: “The film is a substantial piece of work. It lasts about 90 minutes and is entirely devoted to the Hijazi story.”
Other breaches of court instructions included airing the film on large screens during a major rally that Robinson had organised for his supporters in Trafalgar Square on 27 July.
Robinson, 41, who appeared in the dock after being remanded in custody on Friday, shook his head and looked up to supporters in the public gallery as he heard it discussed that the maximum custodial penalty for committing contempt of court was two years.
At the start of the hearing, Eardley said a “resolution” had been reached over the allegations, and read them out to the court.
When asked by Mr Justice Johnson whether he accepted he had committed the breaches, Robinson nodded and then replied: “Yes”.
Referring to Robinson by his real name, Eardley said the case was not about the far right figure’s political activities. “It’s a case about disobedience to an order of a court and an undermining of the rule of law,” he said.
The court was told by a barrister for Robinson that he was a journalist and first started working in the role in 2015. He had gone on to make the film, entitled Silenced, after it was commissioned by Alex Jones, the well-known US conspiracy theorist.
A plea for mitigation was made on Robinson’s behalf on the basis that he had pleaded guilty “sooner rather than later” even though he had previously failed to turn up at a hearing of the case in July. That hearing had been told that Robinson fled Britain to “put himself beyond the reach of authorities” in the UK.
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