Tommy Robinson appeals against sentence for contempt of…

Former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson is appealing against his sentence but will have to wait two weeks for the result

Tommy Robinson faces at least two more weeks behind bars as judges today delayed the decision on whether to cut his sentence.    

The English Defence League founder is appealing against his 13-month jail term for contempt of court.

Mr Robinson was locked up in May after he filmed people involved in a criminal trial and broadcast the footage on social media.

The footage, lasting around an hour, was watched 250,000 times within hours of being posted on Facebook.

The far-right activist was given 10 months for contempt of court, which he admitted, and a further three months for breaching a previous suspended sentence.

Robinson, 35, has sent a legal team to the Court of Appeal in London to argue his sentence should be cut.

But leading judges have reserved their decision for a later date likely to be in two weeks.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett announced at the end of Court of Appeal proceedings in London on Wednesday that the court would try its ‘level best’ to give a decision by the end of July.

Robinson, 35, whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, watched via video link from prison.

During the hearing, his QC Jeremy Dein urged Lord Burnett and two other judges to overturn contempt of court findings, submitting that procedural ‘deficiencies’ had given rise to ‘prejudice’.

Mr Dein, when asking the judges to reduce the jail sentence, argued that it was ‘manifestly excessive’, and said that ‘insufficient weight’ had been given to personal mitigation.  

Supporters of former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice, as he attempts to challenge his 13-month prison term for contempt of court

Supporters of former English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice, as he attempts to challenge his 13-month prison term for contempt of court

Others carried Free Tommy Robinson placards as they arrived at the court ahead of the hearing

Others carried Free Tommy Robinson placards as they arrived at the court ahead of the hearing

Robinson was arrested outside Leeds Crown Court in May after using social media to broadcast details of a trial which is subject to blanket reporting restrictions.

Jailing him, Judge Geoffrey Marson told Robinson his actions could cause the trial to be re-run, costing ‘hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds’.

The judge said it was a ‘serious aggravating feature’ that he was encouraging others to share it and it had been shared widely.

He added: ‘Everyone understands the right to freedom of speech but there are responsibilities and obligations.

‘I am not sure you appreciate the potential consequence of what you have done.

‘People have to understand that if they breach court orders there will be very real consequences.’

It was the second time Robinson had breached court orders, having narrowly avoided jail in May 2017 over footage he filmed during the trial of four men who were later convicted of gang-raping a teenage girl.

The judge on that occasion gave him a three-month suspended sentence and told him his punishment was not about ‘freedom of speech or freedom of the press’ but about ‘justice and ensuring that a trial can be carried out justly and fairly’.

Tommy Robinson streamed an hour-long Facebook Live outside Leeds Crown Court and was later arrested  (pictured)

Tommy Robinson streamed an hour-long Facebook Live outside Leeds Crown Court and was later arrested (pictured)

During Robinson’s sentencing hearing, his barrister Matthew Harding said the activist had ‘deep regret’ for what he had done and ‘did not try to cause difficulties for the court process’.

The appeal hearing, before the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and two other leading judges, was due to start at 10.30am today.

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