The anti-migrant protester known as Danny Tommo has been arrested after a small boat was slashed with a blade while attempting to cross the English Channel. Tommo, real name Daniel Thomas, was detained on Wednesday night on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life.
Detectives had been investigating an incident in the Channel in which a dinghy carrying a rescue worker was apparently slashed with a knife.
Arrest and charges
A Hampshire Police spokesman said: “A man has been arrested after a boat that had an emergency responder on board was damaged in the English Channel.
“We received a report of the incident on Tuesday evening.
“Last night, Wednesday, September 23, a 37-year-old man, of no fixed abode, was arrested on suspicion of destroying ships or fixed platforms or endangering their safety under Section 11 of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990, criminal damage, criminal damage with intent to endanger life, and conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals under Section 58 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.
“He remains in custody at this time.”
Online footage and protests
The arrest comes after Thomas posted a video online appearing to show himself confronting an inflatable dinghy in the Channel. Footage posted online by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson showed Thomas being detained by police at a petrol station. He can be heard asking officers if he can use his phone to speak to his children.
Hundreds of protesters gathered on Tuesday evening in Gosport aiming to disrupt the arrival of asylum seekers in the Hampshire town. Six people were arrested after the crowds gathered at the marina in the mistaken belief that a small boat carrying migrants was due to arrive there. A Border Force vessel carrying 51 people landed instead in Dover early on Wednesday.
Other arrests
Thomas appeared to have spent Tuesday afternoon on a speedboat in the Channel broadcasting his pursuit of the asylum seekers to more than 100,000 people online.
Hampshire police said two men from Salisbury, aged 19 and 36, were arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass, while four people from Gosport – two men aged 33 and 67, and two women aged 31 and 32 – were held on suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker. The 67-year-old was also detained on suspicion of careless driving.
