BREAKING NEWSTommy Robinson will STAY in prison after losing bid to overturn his 18-month sentence - claiming jail was 'making him ill'
Tommy Robinson will stay in prison after losing a bid to shorten his 18-month sentence by claiming jail was 'making him ill'.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was jailed last October for contempt of court because he ignored an order not to repeat lies about a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for libel.
The 42-year-old was locked up after admitting 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021.
After being sentenced, the former English Defence League leader was admitted to HMP Belmarsh, but 'on his first day he stated he had a conflict with followers of Islam'.
He was then moved to HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes on November 1, but the prison received intelligence over threats to Robinson, with two other prisoners supposedly 'plotting to assault' him.
Robinson was moved to a 'closed wing' after receiving reports he had a 'mark on his head' and 'would be killed by a lifer', the court previously heard.
The far-right activist appealed against his prison sentence on Friday, with the Court of Appeal told that his mental health, combined with his segregation in prison, is 'making him ill' and is having a 'demonstrable effect' on him.
The Solicitor General opposed the appeal, with its barristers stating there are 'no grounds for altering the sentence'.
In a ruling on Wednesday, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Lord Justice Warby dismissed the appeal.
Tommy Robinson has lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his 18-month sentence for contempt of court
Pictured: Tommy Robinson supporters gathering in central London in October 2024 for an anti-immigration protest
They said: 'The judge's application of the law and his reasoning on the appropriate sanction in this case both exhibit a meticulous approach.'
The decision marks Robinson's second court defeat in less than a month, after a bid to bring a legal challenge against the Government over his segregation at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes was thrown out of the High Court in March.
It also means he is still set to be released from custody on July 26.
He was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court after admitting 10 breaches of the injunction, the Solicitor General having earlier issued two contempt claims against him last year.
The first alleged he 'knowingly' breached the order on four occasions, including by having 'published, caused, authorised or procured' a film called Silenced, which contains the libellous allegations, in May 2023.
The film was pinned to the top of Robinson's profile on the social media site X, while he also repeated the claims in three interviews between February and June 2023.
The second claim was issued in August concerning six further breaches, including playing the film at a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in central London last summer.
Handing down the sentence in October, Mr Justice Johnson said 'nobody is above the law', and he described Robinson's breaches of the injunction as 'flagrant'.
The judge said Robinson could reduce his sentence by four months if he took certain steps to 'purge' his contempt, such as removing the film from his social media pages.
The 42-year-old was sentenced in October last year after admitting 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021
Robinson was initially admitted to HMP Belmarsh (pictured) but was transferred for 'starting a conflict with followers of Islam'
He was then moved to HMP Woodhill (pictured) in Milton Keynes on November 1, where he received threats to his safety
At the Court of Appeal, Alisdair Williamson KC, for Robinson, said he has ADHD and 'complex post-traumatic stress disorder', which the sentencing judge was not fully aware of.
He said: '(Mr Justice Johnson) did not have before him this additional factor, which in of itself means that the conditions that Mr Yaxley-Lennon faces are more onerous.'
He continued: 'He is being kept safe by the authorities in segregation, but being kept safe is making him ill, and more ill than Mr Justice Johnson could have foreseen on the basis of the information before him.'
Aidan Eardley KC, for the Solicitor General, said in written submissions there is 'no evidence that the conditions in which the appellant is being held are more severe than was anticipated' by Mr Justice Johnson.
He said: 'Legally, there is no basis for arguing that conditions unforeseeably imposed by the prison authorities could found a ground of appeal.'
He continued: 'There are no grounds for altering the sentence in this case.'
In a 15-page ruling, Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Lord Justice Warby said new evidence about Robinson's mental health 'does not on analysis show either a significant exacerbation of a known medical condition or a material new factor'.
They said: 'Even taking the appellant's case at its highest, we see no reasonable basis for the contention that the conditions that he is experiencing are so substantially worse than the judge anticipated at the time of the sanction decision as to call for a downward adjustment.'
A court sketch of Tommy Robinson (right), whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appearing at Woolwich Crown Court, south London, last October
They continued: 'The evidence falls far short of the standard for a successful criminal appeal based on fresh medical evidence.'
They added that Robinson could 'still reduce the period he has to spend in custody by taking the steps identified' by Mr Justice Johnson.
The injunction was issued after Robinson was successfully sued by Jamal Hijazi, a then-schoolboy who was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
After a clip of the incident went viral, Robinson made false claims on Facebook, including about Mr Hijazi attacking girls in his school, leading to the libel case.
Mr Justice Nicklin ordered Robinson to pay Mr Hijazi £100,000 in damages and his legal costs, as well as making the injunction preventing Robinson from repeating the allegations.
Following the appeal being dismissed, a spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office said: 'Stephen Yaxley-Lennon repeatedly ignored judges' orders and continued to spread libellous allegations.
'His 18-month sentence reflected how gravely the court considers contempt.
'We respect the court's decision to refuse permission to appeal the sentence imposed.'
