Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, was last week convicted at Southwark Crown Court for harassing Daily Mail journalists Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber. He had taken umbrage at an article which claimed that, at the height of the riots in 2024, he was writing incendiary social media posts from a sun lounger in Cyprus.
He will be sentenced on Dec. 16 when, in all likelihood, the former English Defence League leader turned citizen journalist will be heading back to prison. Harassment causing fear of violence is a serious offence. In passing sentence, the judge will have to determine whether Yaxley-Lennon’s actions were intended to maximise fear or distress, involved a high degree of planning and impacted on the lives of those targeted.
Yaxley-Lennon’s menacing intention was indisputable. He made threatening phone calls and sent messages to the two journalists, warning one: “I’m coming to get you” and the other that “I’ll be knocking at your door”. He augmented the intimidation by posting photos of Dirnhuber outside his home and images of Young’s wife and children. When he hired a private investigator to find the addresses of the two journalists, he showed a “high degree of planning”. Both men were so alarmed that they moved out of their homes, in direct response to his threats.