Tommy Robinson has been hit with fresh criminal charges just a week before he is due to be released from prison.
New charges come as release date nears
Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – has been charged with two counts of harassment causing fear of violence. The offences are alleged to have taken place in August, just weeks before he was jailed. He is currently serving an 18-month sentence at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes, though the sentence was recently reduced after a successful appeal.
Despite the reduction, the 41-year-old now faces fresh legal trouble. The new charges could delay his release, which had been expected within days following a High Court ruling that he had made steps to comply with a previous injunction.
Convicted for contempt over anti-refugee video
Robinson was jailed in October 2024 after breaching a court injunction that barred him from repeating false claims about Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi. The teenager had successfully sued Robinson for libel in 2021, after the activist posted inflammatory videos accusing him of violence and extremism – accusations that were proven false.
Instead of complying with the court’s ruling, Robinson continued to defy the courts. In July 2024, he showed a video titled Silenced at a public rally in London’s Trafalgar Square. The video included footage of a playground assault involving the same Syrian refugee, which the courts had explicitly banned him from sharing.
A judge ruled that Robinson’s actions amounted to contempt of court, describing him as showing “no remorse” and deliberately inciting hostility.
Legal battles mount as Robinson claims free speech defence
Since being jailed, Robinson has lost two further legal challenges related to his imprisonment. He has continued to claim his case is about “freedom of speech”, but judges have repeatedly found that his actions were not protected by that defence.
During sentencing, Mr Justice Johnson said that Robinson had “wilfully ignored” the injunction and showed “an absence of contrition.” However, the judge later agreed to reduce the sentence by four months after Robinson agreed to remove the video from his social media accounts.
Court date to be confirmed on new charges
Robinson is now due to face court again on the new harassment charges. No details have yet been released about the alleged victims, but police say the incidents took place in August 2024. A court date is expected to be set in the coming days.
If convicted, the charges could result in a further custodial sentence, adding to a long history of criminal convictions for fraud, public order offences, and contempt.
Tommy Robinson has not yet publicly responded to the new charges.
