Tommy Robinson has ‘fled the country’ after committing ‘flagrant’ contempt of court relating to a film played at a protest in central London, the High Court has been told.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was due to appear at the Royal Courts of Justice on Monday for a hearing in his latest contempt of court case but was not in attendance.
The Solicitor General launched legal action against Robinson in June over an alleged breach of a court order after he lost a libel battle in 2021.
But Adam Payter, representing the Solicitor General, said it is believed Robinson left the jurisdiction hours after being released on unconditional bail following his arrest over the weekend.
Mr Payter said Robinson was arrested following a ‘large demonstration’ in central London, which featured the showing of a film that was ‘central to this application’ and showed a ‘flagrant’ and ‘admitted’ breach of the court order.
He added that, following the demonstration, Robinson was stopped in Folkestone, Kent, during a port stop and search and arrested by Kent Police under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The far-right activist was detained by police at the Channel tunnel in Folkestone, prompting flag-waving protesters to storm Downing Street yesterday demanding his release.
Chants of ‘release Tommy now’ and ‘we want Tommy out’ could be heard from protesters, as tourists filmed the men on their phones.
One man carried a large Union flag and another an England flag outside the gates as they took to the streets to voice their anger.
Mr Payter said: ‘We understand he failed to co-operate with a port stop and search. The implication is he was attempting to leave the country and therefore was not intending to attend this hearing this morning.’
He added that Robinson was reminded of Monday’s hearing before being released on unconditional bail at 10pm on Sunday, but that it is now believed he ‘left the UK last night and there was nothing to prevent him from doing so’.
The court was told Robinson ‘is not within the jurisdiction of the UK’, with Mr Payter claiming that Robinson had returned to the UK ‘with the purpose of publishing the film’ before leaving the country again ‘to put himself beyond the reach of this court’s jurisdiction’.
Mr Justice Johnson said he was ‘entirely satisfied’ that the hearing could proceed in Robinson’s absence, telling the court that a further hearing in the case is expected to be held in October.
But the judge ordered that it not be carried out ‘until early October’ to allow Robinson time to indicate that he would attend the next hearing voluntarily or to apply to ‘set aside’ the warrant.
In 2021, Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi successfully sued Robinson after the then-schoolboy was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
After a clip of the incident went viral, Robinson made false claims, including about Mr Hijazi attacking girls in his school, leading to the libel case.
Mr Justice Nicklin ordered Robinson to pay Mr Hijazi £100,000 in damages and his legal costs, as well as making an injunction preventing Robinson from repeating the allegations he made against the then-teenager.
Campaign group Hope Not Hate alleged that Robinson had ignored the injunction and repeated the allegations, providing a ‘dossier of evidence’ to the Attorney General’s Office, with the Solicitor General then taking legal action.
Kent Police said that on Sunday night that a man, 41, had been detained at the Channel tunnel in Folkestone under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act.
This legislation allows an examining officer to stop and question people entering and leaving the UK through ports, airports, international rail stations and the border area.
When necessary, they may also detain and search individuals.
Robinson’s verified social media accounts yesterday claimed that the English Defence League (EDL) founder was to be ‘charged with terror offences’.
The Metropolitan Police said it did not recognise claims he had been detained and insisted there was ‘no Met involvement’.
Bedfordshire Police, who have had dealings with him in the past and cover the area where he is from, also denied any involvement.
News of the arrest lead to protests outside Downing Street. A crowd of around 70 people gathered outside the gates of No 10 last night.
Protesters were overheard shouting about conspiracy theories including that the country is being controlled by a ‘deep state’. One man held a large England flag on a pole, which read ‘Jesus is our God’.
Four protesters held a several-metre long printed banner that had a photo of Robinson with tape over his mouth and ‘#freetommy’ beneath.
Dozens of protesters crowded around and loudly chanted ‘Tommy Robinson’ at a young woman who said his film of a Syrian schoolboy was libelous.
The woman appeared to be filming on a phone as she made the comments and was escorted away by police.
As she walked away, the crowd turned and pointed at her, repeatedly shouting ‘oh Tommy Robinson’, with one apparently teenage boy shouting ‘f*** Palestine’.
Two men were seen wearing ‘make America great again’ hats.
One man held up a T-shirt printed with a black-and-white photograph of Robinson with his mouth taped over and the text ‘#freetommy’.
A man who appears to have organised the protest was warned by police that protesters were blocking the highway and access to Downing Street, and risked being removed.
An officer told him ‘we want to work with you’ to allow the protest.
Protesters moved from outside Downing Street to Scotland Yard, the Met Police HQ, at 5pm.
One of the apparent organisers compared the treatment of Robinson to the attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump.
He shouted from a bench beside the Scotland Yard sign: ‘Today they are attempting to assassinate Tommy Robinson and we must stop them.’
Ahead of the protest, the Met Police said: ‘Met officers are not involved in the alleged arrest of Tommy Robinson and we are not aware of any links with the demonstration held yesterday in London.
‘This matter involves another force and we hope that further information will be released soon.
‘We are aware of posts online encouraging people to protest in London in relation to this issue. Any such protest must be lawful. We will deploy officers as required to prevent serious disruption or disorder and to deal with any incidents.’
It came 24 hours after Robinson, real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, took part in a massive rally at Trafalgar Square which saw thousands of his supporters flood the streets of London.
Robinson was warned he could face prison after screening a banned film to thousands of his supporters at the event.
The crowd was shown a documentary called Silenced – about a Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi being assaulted by another pupil in the playground at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield – despite a judge previously calling it contempt of court.
A complaint was later made over a film which was allegedly shown to the crowd in breach of a High Court order, with police saying officers were making further inquiries.
Mr Hijazi successfully sued Robinson in 2021 for libel after false claims were made about him, including that the then-teenager had attacked girls in his school. Robinson was ordered to pay him £100,000 in damages plus costs.
After the screening on Saturday Robinson challenged the authorities to ‘take him to court’.
Posting on his X account, he wrote: ‘I’ll be jailed for two years for showing the inconceivable truth.’
He was already due before the High Court on Tuesday accused of contempt for making the film.
Robinson also on Saturday afternoon posted a one hour 45 minute film on X, in which he said he had previously avoided publishing the video because he was ‘scared’.
In response to a complaint about the film on X on Saturday evening, the Met said: ‘We did not know what films would be shown during the event. Organisers of protests are not required to share those details in advance. There is no power for us to compel them to do so.
‘Officers on duty for the event couldn’t reasonably have been aware of civil proceedings ongoing in relation to a particular film, but having now been made aware we’re making further inquiries to determine what action we need to take.’
On Saturday night the force revealed that nine people had been arrested in relation to the event, which saw hundreds of counter-demonstrators flood the streets at the same time.
Among those detained were two men taken into custody after an anti-racism protester was attacked as the counter-rally, organised by Stand Up To Racism, marched towards Whitehall.
The victim received a head injury was taken to hospital after the incident in Victoria Embankment Gardens.
Police saying the pair – who are believed to have been part of the Tommy Robinson protest – had been taken into custody on suspicion of committing grievous bodily harm (GBH).
Four people were arrested outside a pub in Whitehall on suspicion of assault on emergency workers. Four Met officers were assaulted.
One man was also held on suspicion of criminal damage and a racially aggravated public order offence after allegedly snapping a Palestinian flag and making a racially abusive remark, while another was arrested on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker after a police officer was kicked, the force said.
The police had already used powers under the Public Order Act to try to keep the opposing groups apart amid fears of serious disruption.