Tommy Robinson court case: Police mount major operation around Old Bailey amid fears of disorder at EDL founder's contempt hearing
Judge to decide whether to jail EDL founder again for alleged contempt of court in Leeds
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A major police operation is being put in place around the Old Bailey amid fears of disorder at a hearing where Tommy Robinson could be jailed.
More than 1,000 of the far-right figurehead’s supporters say they will attend a demonstration outside the London court during a re-hearing over alleged contempt of court.
City of London Police are to close two surrounding roads and officers have been visiting nearby pubs, restaurants and businesses to offer them advice, The Independent understands.
Many are expected to close or stop serving alcohol in glasses during the protest, while Robinson’s supporters and counter-demonstrators will be kept apart by significant numbers of police officers.
Two large “Free Tommy” protests saw disorder break out in London over the summer – police were attacked, and demonstrators performed Nazi salutes and blockaded a bus driven by a Muslim woman.
Robinson, who founded the English Defence League (EDL), was jailed in May for allegedly violating reporting restrictions on a set of linked trials at Leeds Crown Court.
The 35-year-old’s barrister admitted contempt of court on Robinson’s behalf after he broadcast a Facebook Live video outside the court, talking about the case and “jihad rape gangs”.
The reporting ban was lifted on Friday after three trials saw 20 men convicted of committing offences including child rape, abduction and trafficking as members of a grooming gang operating in Huddersfield.
Lawyers for the defendants, who have so far been jailed for more than 220 years, applied for the jury in the second trial to be discharged over Robinson’s video.
The attempt would have caused the trial to be reheard at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds, but a judge refused the application.
Robinson was handed a 13-month prison sentence but was freed in August after the Court of Appeal found that the way his case was handled was “fundamentally flawed”.
Senior judges ordered the matter to be reheard before Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC, the Recorder of London, at the Old Bailey.
Their judgment suggested that Robinson may have committed contempt both by violating reporting restrictions and with “generally prejudicial remarks”, including on the “ethnic and religious backgrounds of the defendants”.
“These comments were, at least potentially, capable of amounting to a freestanding contempt of court,” it continued.
“The alleged contempt was serious and the sentence might be longer than that already served if a finding is again made against [Robinson].”
Contempt of court laws aim to ensure fair trials in Britain by preventing juries from being swayed by information from outside the hearing, and apply to all forms of online and offline publications.
The offences are covered by a “strict liability rule”, meaning that intent and knowledge of committing them are not necessary for a conviction, nor is proof that a jury was prejudiced.
The Court of Appeal refused to quash a separate finding of contempt from Canterbury Crown Court in May 2017, saying criticism by Robinson’s legal team “had no substance”.
In that case he was handed a three-month suspended sentence for trying to film defendants inside the court during jury deliberations, after being told to stop and warned filming was against the law.
Judge Heather Norton said at the time: “This contempt hearing is not about free speech…it is about justice, and it is about ensuring that a trial can be carried out justly and fairly.”
Judge Geoffrey Marson QC activated the suspended sentence in May and added another 10 months for the alleged new contempt in Leeds.
He initially imposed another reporting ban on proceedings against Robinson, but it was lifted days later following a challenge by The Independent and local media.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, attended a preliminary hearing last month that saw hundreds of his supporters descend on the Old Bailey, chanting his name in the street outside the court and clashing with counter-protesters amid a heavy police presence.
Many of Robinson’s supporters were holding their own signs, reading “no to Sharia law”, attacking the “fake news media” and calling for “freedom of speech”.
But they shouted down counter-demonstrators, labelling them “scum”, and a woman who with a placard listing Robinson’s previous criminal offences had it ripped out her hands.
City of London Police said one person was arrested for breach of the peace and they are also investigating whether an offence was committed by one of Robinson’s key supporters.
Ezra Levant, the activist’s former employer at Canadian website Rebel Media, may have broken contempt of court laws himself by breaking the filming ban inside the Old Bailey.
“We were made aware of a video on social media which appeared to show filming taking place inside the Central Criminal Court,” a police spokesperson said. “We continue to work with the court authorities to assess this video and whether any further action needs to be taken.”
While on bail, Robinson has triggered a furore over far-right sympathies in the British Army by posting footage of recruits he ran into at a motorway service station online.
At least one soldier has so far been discharged, while troops have been disciplined for inviting Robinson to their barracks following the incident.
This weekend, he attended a rally held by the German anti-Islam group Pegida and gave a speech that ended with the slogan: “Wir sind das Volk.”
“Now is the time for things to turn, a revolution is on the cards,” Robinson told the crowd in Dresden. “The Muslim invaders want your country for themselves…peace with Islam is a false peace.”
He attempted to found a British offshoot of the group in 2015, having left the EDL two years before.
The Luton father-of-three styles himself as a reporter, raising cash for his work by crowdfunding via his website, which has seen a dramatic increase in donations since his imprisonment.
Robinson’s activism has been interrupted by jail sentences for entering the US with a false passport, and mortgage fraud, while he has also been convicted of offences including actual bodily harm, threatening behaviour and drug possession.