Tommy Robinson loses court challenge against 18-month sentence
16 April 2025, 10:11 | Updated: 16 April 2025, 11:45
Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his 18-month sentence for the civil offence of contempt of court.
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Robinson was jailed last October for the civil offence of contempt of court, and challenged the length of the sentence at the Court of Appeal on Friday.
The 42-year-old was jailed after admitting 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021, which barred him from repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for libel.
Lawyers for Robinson, who has ADHD and “complex post-traumatic stress disorder”, told the Court of Appeal that prison is “making him ill” and that his mental health, combined with his segregation in custody, is having a “demonstrable effect” on him, meaning his sentence should be reduced.
Barristers for the Solicitor General, who opposes the appeal, said there are “no grounds” for reducing the sentence.
Read more: Tommy Robinson appeals sentence as jail segregation ‘making him ill’
Robinson was jailed by Mr Justice Johnson at Woolwich Crown Court last year after the Solicitor General issued two contempt claims against him.
The first alleged he “knowingly” breached the order on four occasions, including by having “published, caused, authorised or procured” a film called Silenced, which contains the libellous allegations, in May 2023.
The second claim was issued in August, concerning six further breaches, including playing the film at a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in central London last summer.
Jailing Robinson, Mr Justice Johnson said that “nobody is above the law” and described the breaches of the injunction as “flagrant”.
The order was issued against him after he was successfully sued by Jamal Hijazi, a then-schoolboy who 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 on Facebook, 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 the injunction preventing Robinson from repeating the allegations.
Robinson, who is currently held at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, is currently set to be released on July 26.
