Far-right activist Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, has pleaded not guilty to causing criminal damage after he was filmed apparently slashing a boat in the English Channel with a blade while an emergency responder was onboard. He also denied failing to disclose his phone pin code to police.
Thomas, 37, appeared at Basingstoke magistrates court on Friday morning via video link. He pleaded not guilty to criminal damage and to failing to disclose the pin number of his phone, under section 53 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
Alleged incident and arrest
Prosecutor Kevin Lucie outlined the basis of the criminal damage charge, alleging Thomas slashed an adrift boat with a knife. Lucie told the court: “On 22 September, around 4.30pm, the defendant on his social platform livestreamed himself from a boat on the English Channel. He broadcast to a significant number of people a boat of migrants being supported by the RNLI in the English Channel. It was a single Rib [rigid inflatable boat] which was adrift.”
“He armed himself with a knife. He slashed the boat.” Lucie said Thomas was arrested at a BP service station and taken into custody, where his mobile phone was seized but he allegedly refused to provide the pin code. When asked about the boat, Lucie confirmed he was unsure if the damage was worth more or less than £5,000, and said: “Unfortunately, it is the case that it did go back to France. We have asked for the cost of the damage.”
Court appearance and bail refusal
Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, was refused bail. The father of four, described as a professional roofer, was seen dabbing his eyes with a tissue at one point during the hearing. He appeared via video link, wearing a black top and grey coat, and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.
He was supported in court by his teenage son, as well as fellow far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. Other supporters were placed in a separate room to watch a live stream from the court, a routine measure when interest in a case outstrips the space available in a courtroom. There was a visible police presence, with an officer in the public gallery of the courtroom, another at the courtroom door and a third in the seated waiting area outside.
Protest and next steps
On Thursday evening, several hundred people, many wearing black, gathered outside a police investigation centre in Basingstoke, apparently in the belief Thomas was inside. Dozens of police officers could be seen monitoring the group as the protest continued for several hours.
Thomas has said he would like a crown court trial. A hearing will take place at Portsmouth crown court on Tuesday 29 September. His lawyer, Simon Pentol KC, said: “This defendant is not charged with an offence of political activism, whether you agree with it or not, that is not the issue. He has elected crown court trial over criminal damage simplicita and nothing more, and for not acquiescing to a notice requiring him to provide a pin number.”
Pentol added: “I invite this court to bear in mind it’s dealing with a 37-year-old man who lives with his long-standing partner and their four children, all aged between 18 and three, his partner is pregnant once again, four months. She is a full-time mother, he is the full-time provider, or breadwinner, as they used to say.”
“He is a professional roofer by trade. He is, therefore, having to look after his family who, through his political activism, have been under huge threat and due to publication of his mother’s home address, she has had to move home.”
