Tommy Robinson broke down in tears as he gave evidence in court today, where he is charged with two counts of harassment causing fear of violence to journalists. The 43-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, told the jury he was “panicked and terrified” after the Daily Mail and MailOnline published a story about him while he was on a family holiday in Cyprus in August 2024.
Southwark Crown Court previously heard how Robinson used “bully-boy, intimidatory tactics” to frighten MailOnline journalists Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber with a series of posts and messages on social media platform X. Robinson denies the charges.
Emotional testimony about family impact
Robinson wept when asked how his children had been affected by the news story. He told the jury he would “not endanger any innocent family” and that he was “shocked and scared” after the newspaper published the story. He said he left the hotel after the story was published, and his family moved to a different location within the hotel after he spoke with security.
He said he became aware of the story, which had the headline “Stoking riots from his sunbed”, after it had gone online and his phone “started going crazy with people messaging me”. During a question about how his children were affected, he took tissues from a nearby tissue box and wiped tears from his eyes.
Private investigators and pressure tactics
The defendant said he hired private investigators to find the home addresses of Mr Young and Mr Dirnhuber and take photographs. He said: “I wanted the find the journalists,” adding he wanted to “put pressure on them”. He told the court he thought it was “totally reasonable … under the circumstances” to post a picture of Mr Dirnhuber outside his home on X.
Robinson said he wanted to track down the journalists who wrote the MailOnline story about him to “question them on camera” but did not want to cause any harm to their families. Asked by defence barrister Alisdair Williamson KC if he wanted to expose Mr Dirnhuber to threats of violence, he said: “Not at all. I didn’t really think about what he was being exposed to.”
Context of the Southport riots
Robinson agreed that in the immediate aftermath of the murders of three girls in Southport, he had made a “rather intemperate statement” but subsequently issued “calls for calm”. He told the jury: “Anyone following what I was saying would have seen I was trying to calm the situation the whole time.”
He said he had tagged Elon Musk in one of his posts on X about the Daily Mail article because there were guidelines against posting addresses on the platform, and he was hoping to get the article removed. Asked about his state of mind, Robinson said: “Panicked, totally panicked. Panicked and terrified that what was online currently was about to change my wife’s life forever.”
Criticising the newspaper’s story, he told the jury: “I would not endanger any innocent family. They could have run the story without giving my location. They shouldn’t have done that and this is not journalism, this is endangering us.”
Cross-examination and denials
Cross-examining Robinson, prosecutor Ben Holt asked: “You say you had been put in fear by the people coming to you to photograph you… How do you think it will make people feel if you do exactly the same to them?” Robinson said: “The threat I face is different to a journalist who’s written a few lies in a newspaper.”
Asked whether they were journalists doing their job, he said: “I don’t believe they were doing a fair and balanced job at the time, no.” Robinson said he knew journalists and photographers “have no power” over what was published and he tried to contact editor-in-chief Edward Verity. Asked if he threatened to go to Mr Young and Mr Dirnhuber’s houses in order to get Mr Verity to ring him, Robinson said: “That was the threat, but also to challenge them on what they had done.”
Robinson was also asked about a phone call to Mr Young during which the activist allegedly said: “I know where you live.” “That’s a typically threatening thing to say,” Mr Holt said. Robinson replied: “I told him (Andrew Young), I told everyone, I don’t want to be doing this.” “You were just threatening them,” Mr Holt said. Robinson replied: “It really wasn’t like that.” And when Mr Holt asked if he was “bullying” the journalist, Robinson replied: “No, I was trying to pressure him.”
He denied having private investigators take photographs of the home addresses of Mr Dirnhuber and Mr Young was “designed to intimidate them”. “It’s what they’ve done to me,” Robinson said, adding: “It was not done to intimidate them... my intention was to remove the fear and remove the immediate danger to my family.” Asked if he regretted his alleged conduct, Robinson said: “I don’t believe I had any other method of conduct available to me at that time, under that pressure... I don’t see any other option, I had to try and get that picture down.”
The defendant entered not guilty pleas to two charges of harassment causing fear of violence in July last year. The trial continues.
