Tommy Robinson jailed for contempt of court over video

The English Defence League (EDL) founder, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was handed a nine-month sentence at the Old Bailey today.

His sentence was reduced to 19 weeks - of which he will serve half before being released - due to time he previously spent behind bars for the contempt.

Robinson, 36, of Luton, was found to have committed contempt of court when he filmed men accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls and live-streamed the footage on Facebook, in breach of a reporting ban, outside Leeds Crown Court in May last year.

He denied any wrongdoing throughout the hearing, saying he didn't believe he was breaching reporting restrictions and only referred to information that was already in the public domain.

But Dame Victoria and Mr Justice Warby found he was in contempt by breaching the reporting restriction imposed, by live-streaming the video from outside the public entrance to the court and by "aggressively confronting and filming" some of the defendants.

A reporting restriction was in place which postponed the publication of any details of the case until the end of all the trials involving 29 people, in a bid to ensure all defendants received a fair trial.

Robinson was jailed for 13 months after being found in contempt of court on the day of the broadcast. He served 10 weeks in jail before being freed after the original finding of contempt was overturned by the Court of Appeal in August 2018.