Inside Tommy Robinson's seven-month jail stint – from ‘lifer' who threatened to kill him to segregation ‘making him ill'

The Sun

20-05-2025

TOMMY Robinson's turbulent stint in jail which saw him segregated over concerns for his safety is set to be over within days.
The far-Right activist - real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - was locked up for 18 months in October for contempt of court.
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Robinson had made multiple breaches of an injunction in 2021, which barred him from repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for libel.
And his time in jail has been anything but smooth despite the former EDL leader now preparing to be back on the streets within the next week.
Robinson was previously "segregated" from other inmates at HMP Woodhill in Buckinghamshire following threats to his safety.
The High Court was told that he was isolated because of concerns including worries that he "would be killed by a lifer".
The court was previously told there were fears Robinson will be attacked for "kudos" - hence the decision to move him to a closed wing.
A lawyer for the Ministry of Justice said at least two inmates were plotting to attack Robinson and that he had a "mark on his head".
Then, the former EDL leader launched an appeal against the length of his sentence last month but lost the bid.
Robinson's lawyers argued his time in prison was "making him ill" and that the segregation was having a "demonstrable effect".
But barristers for the Solicitor General, who opposes the appeal, said there were "no grounds" for reducing the sentence.
It was his second defeat in less than a month after a separate appeal bid against the segregation was thrown out.
The Ministry of Justice previously opposed the challenge to his segregation, and its lawyers said his isolation was "substantially more permissive" than standard segregation regimes.
They said Robinson had access to a laptop and emails, use of an exercise yard for several hours a day, and being able to make social phone calls for four hours daily.
Jailed Tommy Robinson moved to closed wing over fear he'd be 'killed by lifer who put mark on his head'
In March this year, Tom Cross, for the MoJ, said in written submissions that 120 people had been authorised to visit him.
He added that Robinson been allowed "over 80 visits", another 13 "non-family visits" approved up to March 30, and the ability to request to see other prisoners.
The activist's visits are two hours of social visits, four days a week, which he said were "well in excess" of prison requirements for unconvicted prisoners, which is at least one hour per visit, three days a week.
Robinson's sentence was made up of a 14-month "punitive" element and a four-month "coercive" element.
This meant he could have the four months slashed from his jail term if he were to "purge" his contempt and show steps not to break the injunction that originally landed him behind bars.
However, in a ruling today, Mr Justice Johnson said that Robinson had shown a "change in attitude" since he was sentenced.
He said: "He (Robinson) has given an assurance that he will comply with the injunction in the future, that he has no intention of breaching it again, and that he is aware of the consequences of what would happen if he breached the injunction again."
Lawyers for the Solicitor General also agreed that Robinson had taken steps to adhere to the injunction.
The former EDL leader will now be back on the streets within the next week.
HIGH COURT ROW
Robinson was first jailed after admitting ten breaches of a High Court order made in 2021 by repeating false claims against a Syrian refugee.
The row first erupted in 2018 when a video went viral that showed Jamal Hijazi, a Syrian in West Yorkshire, being attacked by another teenager at school.
Robinson posted his own response this his one million Facebook followers falsely claiming that Jamal was a violent thug.
As a result, the teen and his family received a string of death threats and were later awarded £100,000 in damages after suing Robinson for defamation.
The court slapped the activist with an injunction that banned him from making the claims again.
But in 2023, Robinson lashed out at Jamal again and posted a video claiming he had been "silenced" by the state.
He re-showed the clip to thousands of his supporters in London 's Trafalgar Square.
Jailing him, Judge Mr Justice Johnson said the breaches were not 'accidental, negligent or merely reckless'.