Tommy Robinson has arrived at the Old Bailey as he prepares to face High Court judges over allegedly being in contempt of court
Tommy Robinson’s broadcasting of footage featuring defendants in a criminal trial was ‘subjectively reckless’, High Court judges have been told.
The former English Defence League leader is accused of committing contempt of court by filming defendants accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls.
Lawyers for the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC said a reporting restriction was put in place postponing the publication of any details of the case until the end of a series of linked trials involving 29 defendants.
During cross examination today Robinson said he found it ‘confusing’ that details had been released of the defendants at earlier hearings, but not afterwards.
Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon broadcast the footage on social media from outside Leeds Crown Court on May 25 2018, while the jury in the second trial was considering its verdict.
Outlining his case at a hearing at the Old Bailey, Andrew Caldecott QC, for the Attorney General, told the court there were ‘inconsistencies’ between various accounts Robinson has given of his efforts to check about reporting restrictions before the broadcast.
He said Robinson claims to have made checks, including looking at the court’s website and the door of the court.
Supporters, led by a man with a loudspeaker, are shouting out refrains of ‘oh, Tommy, Tommy … Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson’ Pictured: Robinson speaks to the crowd
The former EDL leader (speaking on the makeshift stage today) is facing an allegation he committed contempt of court by filming defendants in a criminal trial and broadcasting the footage on social media.
However, the barrister said these claims are ‘contested’ and Robinson will be cross-examined on them.
Referring to the reporting restriction, Mr Caldecott said: ‘He was at court, he could have ascertained its terms with ease, either on the day or earlier, and it was a wholly unreasonable risk to speculate as to what the terms were, or might be, and that subjective recklessness is enough.
‘Even if he did not know for certain the terms of the order he knew the existence of such an order was likely and again was subjectively reckless.’
During cross examination today Robinson said family members of some of the victims had contacted him so he was aware the first trial had taken place and the jury was out in the second trial when he filmed the footage outside Leeds Crown Court.
Mr Caldecott put to Robinson that it ‘must have occurred’ to him that the reason there were no reports of the trials was because a reporting restriction was in place.
Robinson also wished his wife a happy birthday, before he left the stage and was accompanied into court by police
Robinson replied: ‘I didn’t think that was reported in the media, that there was a reporting restriction.
‘I had been told there was a reporting restriction, probably by a family member who kept me up to date and told me the jury had gone out.’
He later added: ‘It is not beyond me to believe that the media are told to remain silent, or have a political agenda to remain silent on the details.’
Robinson told the court that he ‘erred on the side of caution’ when he spoke about the trial in his livestreamed video.
He told the court: ‘I didn’t talk about the first trial, I didn’t talk about details’.
He added: ‘I didn’t report on the proceedings, I simply reported public information.’
Robinson said: ‘I had training in contempt of court and, I hold my hands up, that in previous years as a citizen journalist… I made mistakes in previous court cases.
‘I had no idea you couldn’t take a picture in a court building.’
Mr Caldecott QC, told the court today that, in 2017, 29 people were charged with serious sexual offences involving the exploitation of young girls in Huddersfield.
The barrister said dates were set for a number of trials to take place in 2018 and a reporting restriction under section 4 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 was put on the case, postponing reporting until the end of all the linked trials.
Footage filmed by Robinson of three confrontations with defendants in the trial were played to the court.
In one clip, he repeatedly asked two defendants ‘how are you feeling about the verdict?’, and in another extract Robinson said he thought the public should know what the defendants look like.
Mr Caldecott said that, throughout the livestream, Robinson referred to the media as ‘they’ and his own followers as ‘you’.
He said Robinson made a ‘direct appeal’ to his followers to ‘follow, harass and so forth’ the defendants.
Robinson, pictured here being protected by minders, was mobbed as he made his way to a makeshift stage
Robinson shared a video of himself in a car on his way to court on Thursday morning, singing along to Bob Marley’s Everything’s Gonna Be Alright
He added: ‘Even if it is not a direct appeal, the Attorney submits it is clearly an indirect appeal because he is saying, on this alternative view, that the media should be doing it and they aren’t doing it.
‘He frequently describes his followers as ‘The People’s Media’ in the course of the livestream and there are several passages where he loosely advocates what might be called ‘vigilante action’.’
The barrister said Robinson also repeatedly asked those watching the livestream to share it online.
The court also heard that, due to an ‘administrative error’ on the day Robinson made the recording, the reporting restriction did not appear on the Leeds Crown Court list and a copy of it was not posted on the door of the courtroom.
Richard Furlong, representing Robinson, asked Michelle Dunderdale, a member of court staff, why nothing appeared on the court list.
Ms Dunderdale replied: ‘The administrative process had failed.’
However, she said that everyone in the court office knew about the reporting restriction in the case.
Robinson served two months in jail before being freed after a previous finding of contempt was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August 2018.
But Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Warby gave permission for the Attorney General to bring fresh proceedings against him at a hearing in May.
Earlier today Robinson addressed about 150 supporters gathered outside before entering the court building.
In a speech to the crowd he said: ‘This will he used as a test case. I have not broke any law.
‘To the mainstream media, we have had our differences – we have done for years.
‘You should be standing behind me on this. These are your freedoms.’
Robinson also wished his wife a happy birthday, before he left the stage and was accompanied into court by police, telling supporters he is already ‘late’.
Earlier this morning Robinson shared a video of himself in a car on his way to court, singing along to Bob Marley’s Everything’s Gonna Be Alright.
Speaking in the video to his followers on messaging app Telegram, Robinson said: ‘Come on! Not guilty your honour.
‘Hey attorney general if I’m meant to be stressed and worried it’s not working bro.’
Supporters, led by a man with a loudspeaker, are shouting out refrains of ‘oh, Tommy, Tommy … Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson’.
They also chanted: ‘We want justice, we want justice now,’ and ‘Tommy Robinson is a history maker.’
Robinson, 36, from Luton, Bedfordshire, could be sent back to jail if he is again found in contempt, an offence which carries a maximum sentence of two years.
He was jailed for 13 months in May 2018 after he filmed people involved in a criminal trial at Leeds Crown Court and broadcast the footage on social media.
The sentence included three months for contempt at Canterbury Crown Court in May 2017, which was suspended at the time.
But he was freed from prison after serving two months of his sentence following the Court of Appeal’s decision to quash the finding of contempt made in Leeds.
The case was then referred back to the Attorney General, who announced in March that it was in the public interest to bring fresh proceedings against Robinson.
In the video, which lasted an hour and a half and was viewed online 250,000 times after being live-streamed on Facebook, he discussed a trial of members of a Huddersfield grooming gang.
The trial was covered by a reporting restriction banning publication of any details until after the end of several linked cases, in a bid to ensure the defendants all received a fair trial.
The contempt hearing, before Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Warby, is due to last for two days.