Tommy Robinson facing fresh contempt of court claim

Campaign group Hope Not Hate alleged that Robinson had ignored an injunction and repeated allegations.

Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon (David Parry/PA) (PA Wire)

Tommy Robinson is facing a fresh contempt of court case after allegedly breaching an injunction in a libel case he lost.  

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has filed papers to begin potential contempt proceedings after Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was accused of breaching a court order.  

In 2021, Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi successfully sued Robinson after the then-schoolboy 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, including about Mr Hijazi attacking girls in his school, leading to the libel case. 

Following Mr Hijazi’s successful libel claim, Mr Justice Nicklin ordered Robinson to pay him damages and his legal costs, as well as making an injunction preventing Robinson from repeating the allegations he made against the then-teenager. 

Campaign group Hope Not Hate alleged that Robinson had ignored the injunction and repeated the allegations, providing a “dossier of evidence” to the AGO.  

A hearing in the potential contempt proceedings is now expected at the High Court on July 29.  

Hope Not Hate CEO Nick Lowles said: “Back in June 2023, Hope Not Hate submitted a dossier of evidence and an open letter with 15000 signatures to the Attorney General, showing how Tommy quite consciously broke a court order relating to the Jamal Hijazi case.  

“Tommy Robinson believes he is above the law but the law is catching up with him.” 

In August 2022, Robinson was fined £900 for failing to turn up at a High Court hearing to be questioned about his finances related to pre-trial costs in the case of around £43,000.  

Robinson was previously jailed after being found in contempt of court after he filmed men accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls and live-streamed the footage on Facebook, in breach of a reporting ban, outside Leeds Crown Court in May 2018. 

He was sentenced to 13 months in jail after being found in contempt of court on the day of the broadcast, but served just two months before being freed after that finding of contempt was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August 2018. 

The case was then referred back to the Attorney General and he was jailed again in July 2019.