Tommy Robinson is banned from contacting journalist Lizzie Dearden about anything other than stories about him

Tommy Robinson was dubbed a “bully” by a judge as he lost a bid to overturn a stalking protection order which bans him from invading a journalist’s private life.

The 40-year-old activist turned up at reporter Lizzie Dearden’s home unannounced when he learned she was planning a story accusing him of misusing donations to his campaigns.

Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – was heard shouting “f*** you Lizzie” in the late-night incident in January 2021, as he continued to ring the buzzer to the block of flats and shout out her name, Southwark crown court heard.

When she refused to come outside, Robinson made a series of false allegations about the journalist’s partner and threatened to “expose” him online.

A stalking protection order was imposed in October 2021, banning Robinson from contacting the journalist and her partner or talking about them online.

At a two-day appeal, the activist admitted the incident was not his “finest hour”. He also conceded that the allegations about Ms Dearden’s partner – which he shouted in the street and threatened to publish to his online followers – were entirely false.

Judge Gregory Perrins and two magistrates upheld the order, which lasts until October 2026, banning Robinson from contacting Ms Dearden about matters outside her journalistic work.

The judge said the visit to her home and shouted abuse in response to a request for comment on Ms Dearden’s story was not a “legitimate response….nor does it constitute any form of legitimate ‘journalism’ on the part of the appellant.

“It was, in our opinion, a calculated attempt to bully, intimidate and frighten Lizzie Dearden either as an act of revenge for the article she had written or in an attempt to prevent publication of that same article in the national press.”

The court also found that Robinson had effectively “spied” on the journalist by using a private investigator to track down her home address.

He said Robinson’s call to his social media followers for information on Ms Dearden’s partner was a further attempt to “intimidate her further”, and he had come close to blackmail with an email threatening to go public with the false allegations about her partner.

In her evidence, Ms Dearden, who was the Home Affairs editor at The Independent, said the incident left her terrified and the couple “went into hiding” as a result.

She also contemplated leaving her job at the media organisation.

The judge found Robinson had carried out actions associated with stalking, and that he continues to pose a risk to Ms Dearden and her partner due to the “significant grievance” he has.

The judge did agree to modify the court order to allow Robinson to exercise his freedom of speech by commenting publicly on stories written about him by the journalist.

This is includes a planned documentary featuring Robinson speaking about Ms Dearden in a 20-minute segment where he issues a string of rebuttals to the stories she had written.

But the judge said Robinson needs to be “careful” not to incite his followers into stalking the journalist, while the documentary also currently includes “sexual slurs” aimed at the journalist and her partner which he said would breach the stalking protection order if aired.

Robinson attended court for the two-day hearing last week, but was not present as the ruling was handed down on Wednesday.

Evening Standard

A man has admitted encouraging terrorist activity but denies threats to kill two terrorism experts.

Harry Parris, 22, pleaded guilty to four counts of encouraging terrorism online on the basis he was “reckless”.

On dates between 2019 to 2021 he published on video hosting services and messaging apps, the Old Bailey heard.

Parris, of Bittaford, Devon, also admitted six offences of having documents likely to be useful to a person preparing acts of terrorism.

However, the defendant denied making threats to kill two counter-terrorism analysts on 16 February 2020.

He also denied alternative charges of encouraging terrorism by publishing statements with the intention that members of the public would be encouraged.

The defendant entered his pleas before Mr Justice Jeremy Baker, via video link.

A provisional trial date has been set for 13 May and is due to be heard at Bristol Crown Court.

The defendant was granted continued bail with conditions, including not engaging in extreme right-wing activity online.

BBC News

He was dealt with in court

A man who beat a deaf victim to the floor after they bumped into each other in a local shop has been jailed.

Onlookers watched on as Thomas Allan inflicted the assault on the vulnerable man in Sunderland, in April 2023, which included repeated punches.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the pair were known to each other, and that Allan was part of an “antisocial” group at the time of the attack.

Judge Timothy Gittins said the victim, who is “profoundly deaf”, was leaving the store when he happened to bump into Allan who was approaching the doorway.

The judge told Allan: “You immediately punched him forcefully to the face and he retreated into the store.

“Regrettably, those present did little if nothing to protect him or to call the police and you were caught on CCTV chatting to others at the door before deciding to pursue him into the store and corner him by a freezer section.”

The court heard Allan then continued the attack but did so just off camera from the CCTV system and it is unknown if he used kicks or not.

Another man, who was known to both parties, later intervened and managed to usher the defendant away from the victim.

Allan fled the scene but was later arrested. The victim was found to have suffered cuts to his face during the attack.

Allan, 38, of Hendon Valley Road, Hendon, Sunderland, admitted common assault but denied occasioning actual bodily harm which he was found guilty of by a jury in September 2023.

The judge added that “no real motive” had been put forward by Allan, but that the defendant believed the victim had been involved in “other offending.”

Nicholas Lane, defending, told the court Allan never disputed being responsible for an assault but did insist on a trial because the level of injury caused was in question.

Mr Lane added that he has since left the “antisocial” group he was part of and has taken up a range of roles while in custody.

However, the judge said only immediate custody was justified and locked him up for 18 months.

Sunderland Echo

A Norwich teenager has been banned from contacting members of a far-right group and attending all LGBQT+ events.

Kai Stephens, 19, has appeared at Norwich Magistrates’ Court accused of two charges of harassment.

He is also facing charges of sending communications containing indecent or offensive messages.

District Judge David Wilson agreed to adjourn the case until November 24 after being told a significant amount of messages and information relating to the charges had still to be extracted from his mobile phone.

Gina Mattioli, for Stephens, said the information was required as it “may contradict the allegations”.

Stephens, of Bullard Road, was told bail conditions prevented him from contacting members of Patriotic Alternative and attending any lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender events.

Last year far right group Patriotic Alternative staged a protest outside the Forum in Norwich over a planned story time event held by a drag queen claiming they were “protecting the minds” of children.

The group also sparked complaints after a campaign dropping leaflets containing a mixture of anti-migrant and anti-vaccination sentiments through letterboxes in areas of the city.

Eastern Daily Press

An ex-soldier found with terrorism documents, Nazi memorabilia and indecent images of children has been jailed for four years.

Serj Forster, 26, was arrested at home in Norwich in May last year, and police seized a number of items including instructions on bomb making.

Forster was found guilty of collecting terrorist publications including the Advanced Anarchist Arsenal and US Army Improvised Munitions Handbook.

Hundreds of indecent images were found.

Forster pleaded guilty to a third charge of possessing a handbook with instructions on making a sheet-metal gun at home, but was cleared of a fourth charge.

His trial, which ended in February, heard that Forster, of Cardiff Road, was “fascinated” by the extreme right.

Sentencing him at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, Judge Richard Marks referred to a night out Forster had in London where he was pictured doing the Nazi salute in front of a Black Lives Matter slogan.

However, Judge Marks noted that Forster had never “been on marches, demonstrations, political meetings and never joined any political parties or associations”.

Images showed ‘distress’

Forster had a separate trial where he faced three offences relating to making indecent images of children.

The trial heard that there were hundreds of still and moving images seized, including 262 classed as Category A – the most serious type.

Defence counsel John Lyons had argued that Forster’s phone was hacked, but he was found guilty.

Judge Marks said the children pictured were as young as three years old and clearly showed signs of “distress”.

‘Obsessed’

Other items police found in the offender’s property included Nazi memorabilia, National Front stickers as well as knives and imitation guns.

The court heard that, as a schoolboy, Forster was referred to Prevent over his “neo-Nazi” views, and the judge noted he had “failed to respond” in a meaningful way to the government-funded scheme, which aims to steer people away from extremist ideologies.

At 13, he joined the British group National Action, which is now a banned terror organisation, and was kicked out of college because of his beliefs in May 2013.

Forster began basic Army training in 2017, but was made to leave after his extreme right-wing comments were discovered on Twitter, now known as X.

Prosecutor Ben Lloyd said Forster had previously described himself as being “obsessed” with right wing culture.

“In May 2022, he [Forster] said in summary that he accepted that he had been involved with the far right since he was aged about 13,” said Mr Lloyd.

Forster told police he accepted his involvement with the far right, and had an interest in the English Defence League and National Action.

BBC News

A 17-year-old former RAF cadet who drew Nazi symbols on a mural celebrating he Caribbean community has been named for the first time.

Aristedes Haynes fantasised about making a gun and killing a schoolboy, the Old Bailey heard.

Haynes, from Port Talbot, was given one year and seven months detention.

A second boy, 15, from Tonyrefail, Rhondda Cynon Taf, helped Haynes in a series of terror offences and criminal damage.

The two boys carried out several offences of racially and homophobically aggravated criminal damage, over several months throughout south Wales.

Among the damage was the extreme right-wing graffiti on a Windrush mural in Port Talbot and a smoke bomb which was rolled into The Queer Emporium, an LGBTQ+ business in Cardiff city centre.

A court order granting Haynes anonymity under Section 45 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 was lifted post-sentencing following an application from the press. The 15-year-old’s anonymity remains in place.

Aristedes Haynes had previously had anonymity before a court order was lifted

The anonymity order would have expired on Sunday when Haynes turns 18.

Haynes painted graffiti over the Port Talbot Windrush mural twice during 2022, the Old Bailey was previously told.

The vandalism appeared within hours of the mural being completed.

The graffiti included swastikas, the words “Nazi zone”, white supremacist symbol “1488”, and a racial slur.

The mural depicts Donna Campbell, a nurse and daughter of the Windrush generation who died during the pandemic, and her mother Lydia.

The court heard how Haynes, who has been diagnosed as autistic, was referred to the Prevent de-radicalisation programme last spring by the air cadets.

He was expelled from the group last September, after he sent images to other cadets of himself with a swastika painted on his chest.

Haynes was also banned from Instagram for posting racist and Nazi images.

After vandalising the mural the teenager bragged about his actions on messaging app Telegram, writing: “Check my art out.”

He also was involved in setting off a smoke bomb at the Queer Emporium in Cardiff in October 2022, the court previously heard.

The 15-year-old boy appeared at Cardiff Youth Court on 15 August.

He pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage and four counts of racially aggravated criminal damage.

He was given a referral order for a year, a criminal behaviour order for two years and ordered to pay £100 compensation to The Queer Emporium.

Det Chief Insp Andrew Williams from Counter Terrorism Policing Wales said the investigation revealed Haynes was “also involved in the online distribution of extreme right-wing material, which clearly fell into the space governed by terrorism legislation”.

“The offences were particularly abhorrent in nature and understandably caused upset to many people, both within the communities the boys targeted, and beyond.”
BBC News

An A-level student has been found guilty of sharing weapons manuals and terrorist documents.

Malakai Wheeler, 18, of Stamford Close, Swindon, Wiltshire, was convicted by a jury at Winchester Crown Court of six charges, including possessing a copy of the Terrorist Handbook.

Judge Jane Miller KC told Wheeler, who was 16-years-old when he committed the offences, to expect a custodial sentence.

He will be sentenced on 3 November.

Along with the Terrorist Handbook, police found copies of the Anarchist’s Handbook and a document called ‘Homemade Detonators’ in Wheeler’s bedroom.

The teenager was also convicted of sharing 92 documents and 35 images in a chatroom, as well as two other charges of sharing instructions for the use of items that could be used to perform acts of terrorism, including smoke grenades.

Wheeler told the court he had an interest in national socialism as well as anti-Zionism and admitted using a Nazi swastika as part of his profile image on the social media platform Telegram.

He said he downloaded the documents because he wanted to create an archive of items he believed would be deleted altogether from Telegram and the internet.

Wheeler said he accessed videos from the terrorist group calling itself Islamic State, which showed people being killed, out of “morbid curiosity”, adding: “It’s not something you see in every day life.”

Explaining why he downloaded instructions on how to make weapons, he said they could have been useful in the case of “social disorder”.

He said: “Weapons could be useful if there was a serious emergency. Covid showed things could come out of the blue. It could be an economic problem or a foreign invasion – things can just pop out of nowhere.”

Wheeler also said he accessed a file called 100 Deadly Skills because he felt they could have been useful – with their descriptions of techniques to escape from a hotel or “stop yourself from drowning if you were tied up in the water”.

The teenager also accepted being photographed in a skull mask and doing a Nazi salute.

‘Deeply entrenched’

Describing his links to national socialism, he said: “I have an interest and sympathy with some of it but not all of it.”

Det Ch Supt James Dunkerley, head of counter terrorism policing North East, said: “Although only 16 at the time of his arrest, Wheeler was deeply entrenched in a Telegram chat group committed to extreme right-wing ideology.

“He was not simply curious, or a passive observer within the group.

“He clearly shared the same mindset as other members and was very active when it came to promoting racist and anti-semitic views and propaganda.”

He added: “It is important young people recognise the potential impact of their online activity, before they cross a line into criminality, or engage in harmful or dangerous behaviours.”

BBC News

The 17-year-old youth from South Wales admitted a string of terror offences and criminal damage and appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday.

A former RAF cadet daubed a Windrush mural with Nazi symbols and fantasised about making a gun and killing a schoolboy, a court has heard.

The 17-year-old youth from South Wales admitted a string of terror offences and criminal damage and appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday.

The court heard how the youth was referred to the Prevent de-radicalisation programme last spring by the Royal Air Force Air Cadets.

Last September, he was expelled from the group after he sent images to other cadets bare chested with a Swastika painted on his chest and was banned from Instagram for posting racist and Nazi images.

The youth, then aged 16, went on to paint graffiti on a Windrush mural in Port Talbot, which celebrates the town’s Caribbean community, on two occasions in October and November.

Community members were shaken and disgusted after several swastikas, the phrase “Nazi zone”, white supremacist symbol “1488” and a racial slur appeared on the mural hours after it was completed.

The mural depicts Donna Campbell, a much-loved nurse and daughter of the Windrush generation who died during the pandemic, and her mother Lydia, known as Mrs Campbell in her community, with a merged image of a Welsh dragon and the Jamaican flag.

The teenager had bragged about his actions on Telegram telling a user: “Check my art out. Didn’t even spray this shit. I pulled up with a f****** paint brush.”

On October 31 last year he was involved in setting off a smoke bomb at The Queer Emporium in Cardiff, which damaged the floor.

The emporium was targeted because it is a centre for the local LGBT+ community, the court was told.

Prosecutor Lucy Jones outlined how the full extent of the defendant’s right-wing ideology was laid bare after he was arrested on November 8 last year.

In a search of his bedroom, police found a stash of knives, an air rifle and antisemitic literature.

A copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf had been bought for him by his mother and contained the defendant’s handwritten notes, Ms Jones said.

Other items from the defendant’s room included gas masks and flags bearing a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) symbol and a swastika.

The defendant’s electronic devices were seized and the court was shown homemade videos and images in which he made Nazi salutes and shared his far-right ideology.

In one video, the youth talked about “white power” while wearing a swastika pendant, which he was regularly seen sporting on social media.

In other videos, he posed with an air gun and referred to himself as the “KKK” and “Hitler’s strongest soldier”.

The court was told that on one occasion he had fired the gun through the skylight in his bedroom.

His internet search history revealed a fascination with far-right mass killers and extreme groups such as the Atomwaffen Division.

Ms Jones said: “There appears to be an unhealthy interest in school shootings and videos showing live coverage of these shootings taking place.

Ms Jones said: “He is an isolated and angry youth who spends a considerable amount of time reading extreme right-wing, white supremacist literature and he had violent fantasies.”

The defendant’s diary also outlined a desire for “race war”, the court was told.

Among the entries was a hate-filled rant about an Asian schoolmate who be believed “grassed” on him.

He wrote: “I would be doing the world a favour if I just killed him.”

A list of life goals included “burn a building down, maybe bomb it”, “kill someone”, “join a Nazi militia”, “get a gun or make one” and “get buff as hell”.

The prosecutor said the defendant was not just a “keyboard warrior”, saying: “He’s carrying out his ideals not just in relation to the criminal damage but advocating in views in his social media. He’s not anonymous, he is willing to show his face and share and support his views.”

In June, the youth pleaded guilty to eight charges – two of possessing a terrorist document, three of distributing a terrorist document and three charges of criminal damage.

One of the terrorist documents the youth shared with another teenager gave details on bombmaking, derailing trains, attacking power lines and kidnapping police officers, as well as glorifying notorious mass murderers.

He possessed and disseminated another manual with “step-by-step” instructions on gun-making.

In mitigation, David Elias KC said the defendant’s parents were in court and were “fully supportive of him”.

He said they thought he had knives for “field craft” in the cadets and knew nothing about his extremist online activities.

Mr Elias said: “(The defendant) was a member of the cadet force and his father allowed him to use that air rifle. A target range was set up in the garden for him to practise what he was already doing at the cadets.”

He added that his collection of gas masks should be seen in the context of his fascination with the Second World War.

The defendant had been diagnosed with autism and during the pandemic found it easier to talk to people and make friends online, the court was told.

Mr Justice Jeremy Baker observed an impression could be formed that the defendant’s parents “cherished their child to the extent he could not do anything wrong”.

Mr Elias replied: “They did not know what he was doing and when they found out they were, as anyone who has seen those videos and messages, absolutely appalled.”

Mr Justice Baker said it was a troubling case and told the defendant his sentencing would be adjourned until September 21.

The defendant was granted continued bail.

Evening Standard

Neo-Nazi Ashley Podsiad-Sharp worked at Leeds men’s prison HMP Armley until his arrest last year

Ashley Podsiad-Sharp possessed a document called the White Resistance Manual. Photograph: Counter-Terrorism Policing North East/PA

A neo-Nazi former prison officer who ran a fascist fitness club has been sentenced to eight years in prison for possessing a terrorist handbook.

Ashley Podsiad-Sharp, 42, from Barnsley was convicted at Sheffield crown court of possessing a white supremacist “murder manual” on an encrypted hard drive.

Podsiad-Sharp, who worked at the Leeds men’s prison HMP Armley until his arrest in May last year, was described as an “extremely dangerous” man who was likely to have eventually committed terrorist acts or incited others to do so.

Counter-terrorism police found he possessed a document called the White Resistance Manual, which contained advice on how to kill people in a race war and how to avoid detection by police.

Calling himself “Sarge”, Podsiad-Sharp also ran White Stag Athletics Club, which was described by judge Jeremy Richardson KC as “a cauldron of self-absorbed neo-Nazism masquerading as a low-grade, all-male sports club”. It was used to “camouflage your real purpose, to incite violence against those you hated”.

New members were asked if they were homosexual, mixed race or had Jewish or Muslim heritage as part of the vetting process for joining the white supremacist group, which Richardson said was for “inciting hatred” and “encouraging acts of violence” among the “ignorant and disillusioned men”.

Podsiad-Sharp called himself the “commander” and talked about his Nazi heroes, who included Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler.

During the trial, the jury watched a video the self-described neo-Nazi made after being fired from his job, in which he said: “They didn’t get rid of me. It’s been a real good ’un this job actually. Kicking arse and taking names basically. It’s been really, really good fun, lots of busts for drugs and a bit of violence.”

The jury was played a video Podsiad-Sharp made on his way home from a shift at HMP Armley, wearing his uniform, in which he said: “They didn’t get rid of me.”

Richardson said he would be writing to Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, as Podsiad-Sharp should never have been able to work as a prison officer with access to vulnerable and disillusioned men.

He said: “I have absolutely no doubt that a man with the perverted and extremely dangerous views you hold should never be employed in the responsible position you held as a prison officer. I have no idea what, if any, vetting was undertaken by the prison service.

“Although the crime was not committed in prison, I regard the fact you were a prison officer to be a very serious matter. You had contact with young white men who were vulnerable and disadvantaged and may have been ripe for selection by you had the situation presented itself.”

Richardson jailed Podsiad-Sharp for eight years, with an extension period of five years where he would be returned to prison if he breached the terms of his licence.

DCS James Dunkerley, head of Counter-Terrorism Policing North East, said: “Tackling extremist and instructional material is an essential part of protecting the public and preventing it from potentially influencing or informing the actions of others.

“We will prosecute anyone found to be in possession of such material and will continue work with our partners to remove content of concern from online platforms.”

The Guardian

A Neo-Nazi already serving a prison sentence for spreading anti-Semitic coronavirus conspiracies has been found guilty of attacking NHS workers at a Norfolk hospital.

Matthew Henegan, 37, assaulted staff at Northside House, a secure mental health facility in Thorpe St Andrew, where he was being cared for.

A consultant, who suffered head injuries, and two nursing staff gave evidence at King’s Lynn Crown Court that he had hit them with a towel containing a hard object.

The jury took just 20 minutes to find him guilty of the three charges of assault and actual bodily harm.

He was sentenced to an additional 15 months imprisonment.

Henegan, from St Neots, Cambridgeshire, is currently serving an eight year jail sentence after being convicted of antisemitic crimes after a trial at the Old Bailey in November 2021.

In that case, he had distributed racially offensive leaflets through the doors of residents in the Cambridgeshire town in March 2020.

He also posted content online including false claims that Jewish people were behind a coronavirus hoax, swastikas and evidence suggesting he admired Adolf Hitler, describing him as a saviour.

Police also found a document entitled ‘how to make armor piercing ammo’.

Henegan had repeatedly refused to be brought from his cell at HMP Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight to appear in court over the Norfolk charges.

He was initially facing 11 separate charges, including several counts of stirring up racial hatred and causing racially motivated harassment.

A judge had directed not guilty pleas be entered on his behalf to all 11 charges last December.

But on the first day of his trial, King’s Lynn Crown Court was told the Crown Prosecution Service had decided not to proceed with eight of the charges.

Prosecutor Danielle O’Donovan told the hearing eight charges related to racially motivated offences had been dropped.

Recorder David Herbert agreed the trial should proceed in Henegan’s absence.

Eastern Daily Press