Tommy Robinson hearing: Former EDL leader faces new hearing over alleged contempt of court

Tommy Robinson pictured on his release from prison last month
PA
Tom Powell27 September 2018
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Tommy Robinson is set to attend a new hearing at the Old Bailey today where he could be jailed again for allegedly committing contempt of court.

The former leader of the English Defence League, 35, faces a rehearing after winning an appeal against a contempt of court finding last month .

Robinson is due to appear at the central London court under his real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon from 10.30am.

He is alleged to have committed contempt of court by filming people in a criminal trial and broadcasting footage on social media.

Robinson left HMP Onley in Rugby on August 1 but could face being sent back to jail if the judge finds him in contempt - the maximum sentence is two years imprisonment.

More than 1,500 people have indicated on Facebook that they will attend a protest outside the Old Bailey in support of Robinson.

Police have advised pubs in the vicinity of the court to close during the hearing in anticipation of the protest, the Guardian reported.

Robinson was jailed in May after filming people involved in a criminal trial and broadcasting the footage on social media, and has already served the equivalent of a four-month sentence.

He was sentenced to 10 months' imprisonment for contempt of court, which he admitted, and a further three months for breaching a previous suspended sentence.

In May last year he faced contempt proceedings over footage he filmed during the trial of four men who were later convicted of gang-raping a teenage girl.

A judge at Canterbury Crown Court gave him a three-month suspended sentence and told him his punishment was not about "freedom of speech or freedom of the press" but about "justice and ensuring that a trial can be carried out justly and fairly".

Robinson appealed against both contempt findings at a hearing last month heard by Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett, Mr Justice Turner and Mrs Justice McGowan.

They found the judge at Leeds should not have commenced contempt proceedings that day.

Lord Burnett said "no particulars of the contempt were formulated or put to the appellant", and there was "a muddle over the nature of the contempt being considered".

He added: "Where a custodial term of considerable length is being imposed, it should not usually occur so quickly after the conduct which is complained of; a sentence of committal to immediate custody had been pronounced within five hours of the conduct taking place."

The judges dismissed Robinson's appeal in respect of the contempt finding at Canterbury Crown Court.

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