Tommy Robinson case: EDL founder denies encouraging violence in contempt hearing as supporters heckle and jeer outside
Updates from the Old Bailey
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Tommy Robinson denied encouraging violence against defendants in a grooming trial when he gave evidence during contempt of court proceedings.
The 36-year-old former leader of the English Defence League is accused of breaching reporting restrictions by livestreaming a video on Facebook while the jury in that case was considering its verdicts.
He was arrested while still filming and was jailed for 13 months in May 2018, only to be freed on appeal because the hearing was "fundamentally flawed".
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appeared at the Old Bailey for a new contempt hearing following an application by attorney general Geoffrey Cox.
Outside court around 200 supporters gathered around a makeshift stage in front of a double-decker bus, chanting his name and shouting "shame, shame" at journalists. The case is due to finish on Friday.
Follow updates from court as they happened in our liveblog below
Robinson also makes a point in his film that there are no media outside court and suggests they should be harassing the defendants.
Mr Caldecott says Robinson tends to refer to the media as "they" and to his audience as "you" or "the people's media".
The barrister adds: "The primary case is that any one of Mr Yaxley-Lennon's followers would take it as a direct appeal to do those things - namely harassing and following".
Robinson also constantly urged his followers to share the livestream, referring at one point to there being 10,000 people watching it.
The case against Robinson is not that his video prejudiced the jury, but rather that it seriously impeded the course of justice, says Mr Caldecott.
Mr Caldecott also argues that Robinson should not have filmed the defendants as they walked up to, and entered, the door of court.
Michelle Dunderdale, the delivery manager at Leeds Combined Court, is the first witness to be called. She gives evidence about the layout of the court entrance and the display of court lists.
She agrees that on the day of the video there was no mention of any reporting restriction on the court lists.
Robinson's barrister Richard Furlong says that it was only after his client was arrested that the reporting restriction was added to the list.
"The staff administration process had failed," says Ms Dunderdale.
There was also no mention of a reporting restriction on the TV screens inside the court, which show details of which cases are sitting, or on the door of the courtroom.
Ms Dunderdale says she is confident the court's general office staff were aware of the reporting restriction and could have provided it to anyone making enquiries about reporting restrictions.
"Everybody in the office knew there was a press restriction on that trial," she says.
Next witness is Anthony Walton, a security officer at the court, who says he directs enquiries about reporting restrictions to the general office or to the courtroom itself.
Robinson's barrister, Richard Furlong, says that the issues are:
His awareness of whether a reporting restriction was still in force
Whether he was violating the terms of the order / in breach of that order
Whether there is a blanket ban on all matters or is it permissible to report on other matters which are already in the public domain.