What is Tommy Robinson accused of? Political activist to appear in court after incident at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone
Political activist Tommy Robinson is to appear in court after an incident at the Channel Tunnel in 2024.
Tommy Robinson is to appear in court after he was charged with failing to provide police with the Pin to his mobile phone. The 42-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is to attend the trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
He was charged after an incident at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone on July 28 2024, where he was accused of “frustration” of police counter-terrorism powers. Under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, police are allowed to stop anyone passing through a UK port “to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.
The person who is detained can be held for up to six hours, is legally obliged to answer questions and must provide the password or Pin for electronic devices, or be held to have committed a criminal offence if they refuse. In 2018, Robinson was jailed for 13 months for breaking contempt of court laws with a Facebook Live video that could have prejudiced a trial.
He was already subject to a suspended sentence for committing contempt during a rape trial in Canterbury the year before. In November 2023, he was accused of failing to follow a police order to leave an antisemitism march in London. In a trial attended by many of his supporters, he was cleared after a Metropolitan Police officer who signed the order admitted it may not have been lawful because he used the wrong date on the paperwork.
He was also arrested in July 2024 under anti-terror laws over allegations he breached a 2021 High Court order. The order banned Robinson from repeating libellous allegations he made against Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi.
Robinson was later jailed for 18 months in October 2024. In April 2025, Tommy Robinson lost an appeal to reduce his jail term over claims prison segregation was “making him ill”. However, he was released in May 2025, after his sentence was reduced by four months at the High Court.