Trial hears Tommy Robinson hired private detectives to find Daily Mail reporters
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Trial hears Tommy Robinson hired private detectives to find Daily Mail reporters
By Daniel Sandford, UK correspondent, reporting from Southwark Crown Court, and Louise Parry
Political activist Tommy Robinson (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) has told a court he hired private detectives to track down and photograph two Daily Mail reporters to "put pressure" on them.
The 43-year-old, from Bedfordshire, claimed he was "shocked and scared" when the Daily Mail published a story accusing him of "stoking race riots from his sunbed".
He denies two charges of harassment causing fear of violence to reporters Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber after the 2024 Southport attacks.
Robinson maintained he did not want to expose the journalists to threats of violence, and that his actions were "totally reasonable... under the circumstances".
In early August 2024, while on holiday at the Atlantica Mare resort in Cyprus, as riots took place in England following the murders of three girls in Southport, Robinson said he was with his ex-wife, three children, and three other families.
He said he had kept his ex-wife and children out of sight for 17 years, traveling in separate cars.
On the stand, Robinson claimed he had not "stoked" the riots but tried to "calm" things.
He stated that when the Daily Mail published an article online, he felt "shocked, I was scared" because the publication's reach could quickly expose his location and reveal his wife's image.
He explained that his 12-year-old daughter had received rape threats, and his wife had previously been threatened with an acid attack.
Robinson said he tried to call the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail but was unsuccessful.
"They could have run the story without giving my location," he said. "They shouldn't have done that and this is not journalism, this is endangering us."
The court heard Robinson used a private detective to obtain the phone numbers and emails of the journalists.
He phoned Andrew Young, the Daily Mail reporter who had tracked him down in Cyprus.
"I wanted my ex-wife's picture removed from the publication," Robinson said. "I said: 'You're not going to get away from this problem. I'm going to ask you these questions, you've endangered my children'."
He told the jury he wanted to "find the journalists... I needed to question them".
"I would find the men on camera and ask them how was I stoking race riots?"
He requested private investigators to try to get pictures of the journalists and their family members.
Andrew Young, in a statement to the court, recounted Robinson's words during their phone call: "I'm com".