Far-right anti-Islam, anti-migrant agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, otherwise known as Tiny Tommy Ten Names Robinson faces up to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of harassing journalists. Judge says he will consider all options to sentence him who trial heard deployed ‘bullyboy, intimidatory tactics’
Robinson, a former member of the British National party and co-founder of the English Defence League, had said before the trial that his legal bills were being paid for by the billionaire tech mogul and owner of X, Elon Musk. Musk also last year paid for Robinson's defence when he was charged with failing to provide his phone PIN to police, for which he was cleared by a judge, and Musk virtually attended a rally in London organised by Robinson last year.
Anyone defending Robinson, needs to explain exactly what they think he should be allowed to get away with. A man who claims to be a great British patriot, lives in Spain and spends the majority of the year on holiday at the expense of his “donors” was sitting in a holiday resort in Cyprus while stirring up civil unrest in Britain. Journalists reported on it. That is their job. It was a legitimate national story.
And because Robinson didn’t like the scrutiny, he sent private investigators after the journalists, had them tracked and photographed, exposed their home addresses and their families, and threatened to turn up at their homes, saying “I’m coming to get you”. One journalist needed personal security. Another had to remove his family from their home.
Here’s what the jury actually heard. In August 2024, while England was rioting, Robinson was on holiday in Cyprus, posting about the riots to his followers. The Mail found him there and ran a story: “Stoking riots from his sunbed.”
Over the next three days he went after the two reporters, Jacob Dirnhuber and Andrew Young.
5 August: a direct message to Dirnhuber. “I’ll be knocking at your door.”
5 August: a phone call to Young. Robinson told him he’d be coming to his home and that he’d “have to move house.”
6 August: a post naming Dirnhuber, saying he and the other Mail journalists had “today been located.” 7 August: a video to around a million followers. He said he had details of where they and their families lived. He told them to abide by “men’s rules.”
Then: “The men, on the other hand, I will find you.”
He also hired private investigators to photograph their homes. He admitted it in court.
The result: Dirnhuber moved house. Young was given a close protection officer.
The charge was harassment causing fear of violence. The prosecution had to prove a course of conduct that made each man fear violence on at least two occasions, and that Robinson knew or ought to have known it would.
That last part is an objective test. What Robinson says he meant doesn’t decide it. What decides it is what a reasonable person would expect a million followers to do with “I will find you.”
In defence he said he was protecting his family. That is a real defence in law, if the conduct is reasonable for protecting someone. Police had given him four threat-to-life warnings. The jury heard all of it.
He admitted the aim was pressure. Telling a million people where journalists live doesn’t protect your children. It endangers theirs. He didn’t dispute that they were frightened. Asked in evidence, he said no. He never complained to the press regulator. He never asked the Mail to change or remove the story. The legal route was there. He skipped it. His own words. “Men’s rules” is not the language of protection. One is journalism, however much you dislike it. The other is a threat.
If you believe that is acceptable behaviour, that a man can threaten journalists and expose their families to intimidation simply because he dislikes their reporting, then you aren’t defending free speech. You’re defending intimidation. It's not Tommy's job to hand out punishment for supposed wrongdoing, to teach people lessons, or settle scores. Tommy is not a gangland enforcer. He isn't Judge Dredd. He's not even the police. He's a civilian. Saying, "I'm not fretnin' ya or nuffin'", isn't a legal shield against being prosecuted when you launch a campaign of intimidation against someone.
This is Tommy's M.O. Unfortunately for him, he's a violent thug with a history of abuse, violence and intimidation with no impulse control who still thinks he's a top boy in a football firm. He certainly has a varied rap sheet! Assault, mortgage fraud, passport fraud, contempt of court.
I will never understand how a violent, grifting criminal like Robinson has been able to illicit such ridiculous devotion from his army of followers, guess it's just because he spouts the racist guff they all like to hear.
At the magistrates’ court he was offered a trial there. He opted for a jury instead, saying he wanted 12 members of the British public to hear the evidence. They did. A jury of his peers at Southwark Crown Court heard the evidence and convicted him by an almost unanimous jury verdict of 10 to 2. The 43 year old was found guilty of two counts of harassment and causing fear of violence, because normal people see his behaviour as thuggish, inappropriate, and illegal.
Robinson , who shook his head quietly after the verdicts were given and stared at the jury, took to social media and called the verdicts “insane.” And after he was found guilty, the Crown Prosecution Service said Robinson had “weaponised social media”.
Frank Ferguson, the head of the CPS’s special crime and counter-terrorism division, said: “Nobody should be made to fear violence because of the work they do. Journalists play an important role in a democratic society and should be able to carry out their professional duties without being subjected to harassment."
However sentence is not until 16 December when I guess it will be the judge's call. But given the number of priors, it should be a lengthy sentence. This isn’t after all his first rodeo.He has though managed to get bail.Hope they took away his passport.
