Tommy Robinson Trial Approaches

The moment of truth, as he likes to call it, comes tomorrow: Stephen Yaxley Lennon, who styles himself Tommy Robinson, will appear at the Old Bailey in the City of London. Whatever happens inside the court, there will be plenty of overtime for the Police outside as both anti-fascist groups and Lennon’s supporters plan to mobilise in protest.

His appearance is mainly as a retrial of an alleged Contempt of Court arising from his filming outside the court building in Leeds where a number of trials have been taking place of more than 20 individuals accused of sexual misconduct. As all are Scary Muslims™, Lennon turned up to score some cheap publicity. His original committal to prison was later overturned. But now his previous confidence is looking frayed.

Earlier this week, his Facebook page told followers “Please support Tommy against such a corrupt politically motivated prosecution. The Old Bailey, London EC4M 7EH this Thursday 27th September at 9am. We know it is a week day, but we really want the Government to see that ordinary Brits have had enough. This is the UK not China! The world is watching”.

What the Government has to do with the judiciary is not known. Nor is any evidence of corruption, or political motivation, ponied up. But that Lennon is getting jumpy about what might happen when he turns up tomorrow is in no doubt, and to underscore this, he has released yet another video making more highly creative claims about the trial.

After telling followers “Hope to see as many of you as possible at Tommy's trial this Thursday 27th September at the The Old Bailey, London EC4M 7EH from 9am standing up against this dictatorship they call a Government”, here’s what he had to say.

First came the news that two of his most grasping hangers-on have had their services dispensed with: “Caolan and George are no longer working with me”. Then he describes the Leeds court as a “Kangaroo court”. But there is worse to come. “They’ve added two extra charges … Originally, it’s breaching Section 4 reporting restrictions”.

So what’s new? “I referred to the religion of the defendants, the ethnicity of the victims … stated as a fact that those of the defendants were disproportionally likely to commit crimes of the sort for which the defendants were being tried”. He then goes on to make the usual claims about the percentage of grooming gang convictions attributed to Muslims, which he then declares to be “Facts”.

Lennon then claims that he’s been advised to apologise and meet “The Government” half way. He asserts that he will not, and that this means he will go to prison. After all, he claims, what he said are facts, because a report by Quilliam says so (the Quilliam report’s findings and methodology are, in fact, contested).

He also claims that “making highly derogatory comments about the ethnic and religious background of the defendants” is being added to the charge sheet, and that this, too, is somehow wrong. He keeps banging on about “The Government”. It’s come from “The Government”. He makes claims about “Islamic ideology”, which are also “facts”.

Followers are told that the trial Judge will not be independent - well, that’s the way Lennon “reads it”. So we get to the pleading stage. He didn’t assume the mens’ guilt at the Leeds trial, he claims. He didn’t confront them, honestly. There was no sort of aggressive manner (like there wasn’t when he hollered through my letterbox in the dead of night, eh?).

Finally comes the appeal to his followers. No journalist in 70 years, he claims, has been sent to prison for contempt (for some reason he has forgotten what he was told at Canterbury when he got his suspended sentence for, er, contempt of court, when he was told that repetition would see him go to prison).

There is a rambling section in the video where Lennon suggests it is only because trial defendants are Muslims that some reporting restrictions are applied. He is only a British citizen stating facts. He won’t be convicted by a jury, but by a judge. When he goes to trial, it will be “The Government” making the decision. A “draconian Government” who wish to “silence people”. We know this as he is speaking freely in order to tell us.

Lennon ends his highly creative and selective ramble with this supremely self-aggrandising claim: “I don’t think Thursday the 27th is judgment day for Tommy Robinson. I think it’s judgment day for the British Government”. Because “The world is watching”.

Stephen Lennon clearly expects he will be jailed following tomorrow’s court appearance. He also expects to be banged up for two years. His followers will no doubt bemoan this as an attack of free speech. Most others will merely shrug their shoulders and conclude that, if that happens, he’s just a career criminal who got what he deserved.

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