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Mum stripped, doused in vodka and punched by EDL thug after she said no to marriage

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July 10, 2019
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Gemma Hudson, 29, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had to be put into a coma because her injuries were so severe

Gemma was brutally beaten for saying no to a marriage proposal

When mum-of-five Gemma Hudson turned down her boyfriend’s marriage proposal she could not have imagined the horror that was the come.

The 29-year-old was stripped naked, doused in vodka and punched so hard she crashed through a patio window during her terrifying four hour ordeal.

Gemma, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was so brutally attacked by EDL thug Bernard Holmes she was vomiting blood as she begged him to stop.

Holmes choked, headbutted, ripped out chunks of Gemma’s hair, threw her to the floor, kicked her, banged her head against a wall and radiator and bit her on the face and mouth.

What makes the brutal assualt even more chilling is just moments earlier, he had been pleading with her to marry him.

Holmes subjected Gemma to a horrific four hour ordeal (Image: Focus Features)

Gemma finally escaped the terrible attack when she grabbed a back door key and fled wearing just a hooded sweatshirt.

She said: “One minute he was asking me to marry him, the next he was punching me over and over again.

“I really thought I was going to die. He was like a mad man.”

Gemma’s injuries were so bad she had to be put into an induced coma for three days with a bleed on the brain.

She also had soft tissue damage to the jaw, which meant she was forced to eat a liquid diet and had bruises all over her face and body, as well as bite marks.

And while her panic-stricken mother, Lesley, sat at her hospital bedside, Holmes, who was jailed for 18 months in 2012 for leading a violent English Defence League protest in Blackburn, was texting her telling her to ‘stop milking it’.

Holmes, who led other EDL protests outside a KFC dressed as a chicken in 2010, went on the run for 10 days after beating up Gemma, the mother of his seven-month old son, Harley-Ryan.

Gemma, who works as a kitchen assistant at a care home during the week and a licensed door supervisor at weekends, said: “He asked to meet up with me, so I went to his house to talk to him.

“Everything was fine at first. He said he wanted to get back with me and be a proper family.

“He’d asked me to marry him several times before but this time he got down on one knee and asked me again.

“Things had not been right between me and Bernard, and we had been off and on for several months.

“He had never been violent before, but I told him that it could never work between us.

“He seemed to take it in, but then he took my phone and started scrolling through the messages.

“He found an invitation to a hen night and hit the roof. He texted all my friends to tell them I wasn’t going.

“The next minute he was raining punches on me to the point I was sick all over his living room floor.

“I looked up and saw him taking photos of me being sick and shared them on WhatsApp. He was laughing like a madman.

“He would ask me questions while strangling me. He would count down ‘five, four, three, two, one’ then he would either punch me, headbutt me or bite the side of me face and then floor me.

“He would then pick me back up by my hair or my throat.

“He punched me so hard, I fell through the patio door. I could feel the cold air on my face and I tried to scream for help and he put his hand over my mouth and dragged me back in.

“I was thrown on settee by my hair and punched in the face. I asked to wash my mouth out. I could feel myself choking on my own blood.

“I spotted the back-door key on the kitchen work top. I put the tap on to pretend I was washing my mouth out and managed to grab the key and get out of the door.

“All I had on was one of his hoodies. I had nothing on my feet.

“I ran to the next street to get help. He was seen on CCTV chasing me round the street and round a car.

“I was screaming at the top of my voice. I thought I was going to die.

“A man came out and helped me, followed by another. Then I remember blue flashing lights.

“Bernard ran off and was on the run from the police for 10 days.”

Gemma, who met Holmes while stewarding at Accrington Stanley two years ago, said she was aware of his past when she met him but not the full extent of it.

She said she wished she had looked into Clare’s Law, the domestic violence disclosure scheme, when she met him and encouraged other women to do so.

During their relationship, Gemma said binge-drinking Holmes would regularly accuse her of cheating on him and verbally abuse her.

She added: “I no longer feel safe going out. I’m practically a prisoner in my own home. I feel trapped. I’m terrified of something happening to me and my kids.

“He ripped clumps of my hair out and left me with bald patches. I feel so self-conscious and paranoid.

“I do regret meeting him. I should have listened to others who said he was violent.

” I had no idea what he was really like and I had no idea about the far-right marches and all the violence.

“I was disgusted when I found out. The only good thing that has come out of this is my son.”

Holmes, who was jailed for 28 months in 2010 for leaving victim Sean Baxendale with catastrophic injuries in a two-punch attack outside Bar Ibiza in Blackburn, pleaded guilty to ABH and harassment.

He was jailed for three years at Preston Crown Court and Recorder Murray also imposed a restraining order banning Holmes from contacting Ms Hudson for life.

Det Con David Richardson said: “This was a nasty and sustained attack and Holmes deliberately caused more harm than was necessary, leading to significant injuries.

“The police will continue to deal robustly with perpetrators of domestic violence and put them before the courts.”

Daily Mirror

Blackburn far-right thug subjected girlfriend to brutal four-hour attack

By
July 9, 2019
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A BRAVE mother-of-five has spoken of her terror at having to run away from her abusive and controlling partner in nothing but a hoodie after a brutal and prolonged attack.

Gemma Hudson, 29, told how she was vomiting blood as her ex-boyfriend, convicted right-wing thug Bernard Holmes, landed punch after punch in his Blackburn home on the same day he asked her to marry him.

She said he also choked her, headbutted her, ripped out chunks of her hair, threw her to the floor, kicked her, banged her head against a wall and a radiator, and bit her on the face and mouth in the four-hour attack on April 14.

Ms Hudson was put into an induced coma for three days with a bleed on the brain. She also had soft tissue damage to the jaw, which meant she was forced to endure a liquid diet and had bruises all over her face and body, as well as bite marks.

While Ms Hudson was in hospital Holmes, who was jailed for 18 months in 2012 for leading a violent English Defence League flashmob protest in Blackburn, was texting her telling her to ‘stop milking it’.

Holmes, who led EDL protests outside Blackburn’s Haslingden Road KFC dressed as a chicken in 2010, fled after beating up Ms Hudson – the mother of one of his two children – in Pilmuir Road but gave himself in after 10 days.

Reliving the terrifying attack Ms Hudson, who works as a kitchen assistant at a care home during the week and a licensed door supervisor at weekends, said: “I went to his house at about 3pm. For an hour it was fine. From about 4pm to 8pm it was constant beating.

“I had asked to got to my friend’s hen party on the Thursday. It was for the older friends and relatives and those with children who couldn’t go to the one abroad. It was a surprise thing so, because I had to keep it to myself, I had only told him a few days earlier. He was scrolling through my phone and had text my best friend and told her I wasn’t going without my knowledge.

“The next minute he was raining punches on me to the point I was sick all over his living room floor. He took pictures of me being sick and shared them on Whatsapp.

“He would ask me questions while strangling me. He would count down ‘five, four, three, two, one’ then he would either punch me, headbutt me or bite the side of me face and then floor me. He would then pick me back up by my hair or my throat.

“After a while I asked to wash my mouth out. I could feel myself choking on my own blood. I put the tap on to pretend I was washing my mouth out and managed to run out the door. All I had on was one of his hoodies. I had nothing on my feet.

“I legged it to the next street to get help. He was seen on CCTV chasing me round the street and round a car. When everyone came out because they could hear me screaming he ran off and was on the run from the police for 10 days.”

Ms Hudson, who met Holmes while stewarding at Accrington Stanley two years ago, said she was aware of his past when she met him but not the full extent of it.

She said she wished she had looked into Clare’s Law, the domestic violence disclosure scheme, when she met him and encouraged other women to do the same.

During their relationship which she described as being “on and off like a light”, Ms Hudson said Holmes assaulted her on more than one occasion – although she never reported that to the police – would regularly accuse her of cheating on him, throw her belongings out of the car, kick her out of the car and make her walk home and verbally abuse her.

Ms Hudson, of Oswaldtwistle, said she has now lost confidence and fears reprisals. She said she has been unable to go out because she has been left with bald patches where Holmes had ripped her hair out and has been left with jaw pain.

She added: “I do regret meeting him. I should have listened to everybody else who said he was a girl beater and violent. The only good thing that has come out of this is my son,”

Holmes, who was jailed for 28 months in 2010 for leaving victim Sean Baxendale with catastrophic injuries in a two-punch attack outside Bar Ibiza in Blackburn, pleaded guilty to ABH and harassment.

He was jailed for three years at Preston Crown Court and Recorder Murray also imposed a retraining order banning Holmes from contacting Ms Hudson for life.

Det Con David Richardson said: “This was a nasty and sustained attack and Holmes deliberately caused more harm than was necessary, leading to significant injuries. The police will continue to deal robustly with perpetrators of domestic violence and put them before the courts”

For help and advice on domestic abuse visit http://www.lancashire.police.uk/help-advice/personal-safety/domestic-abuse

Lancashire Telegraph

Tommy Robinson guilty over Facebook broadcast

By
July 5, 2019
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Ex-English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson has been found in contempt of court for his Facebook Live broadcast of defendants in a criminal trial.

He was found guilty of interfering with the trial of a sexual grooming gang at Leeds Crown Court in May 2018.

High Court judges found his conduct “amounted to a serious interference with the administration of justice”.

The court ruled that Robinson committed contempt by breaking reporting restrictions.

The 36-year-old, from Luton, had denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not believe he was breaching reporting restrictions and only referred to information that was already in the public domain.

One of the senior judges, Dame Victoria Sharp, said the court will consider what penalty to impose for the contempt – which carries a maximum penalty of two years – and give full reasons for the decision at a later date.

He was originally jailed for 13 months after being found in contempt of court on the day of the broadcast but was released two months into his sentence after winning an appeal.

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.

BBC News

Football fan jailed for assaulting Blackburn stewards

By
June 27, 2019
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Ewan Corbett admitted assaulting two stewards at a Blackburn Rovers match

A fan who assaulted two stewards at a football match has been sentenced to 23 weeks in a young offenders institution.

Ewan Corbett, 20, punched one steward and pushed another one over at a match between Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough in February, police said.

Security staff were attempting to remove a supporter from Ewood Park’s away end when Corbett attacked them.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of assault at Preston Magistrates Court on 17 June.

Corbett, of Albermarie Drive, Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, was also given an eight-year football banning order.

PC Dan Fish said: “Corbett’s actions against two stewards just doing their jobs were shocking and disgraceful.

“This kind of behaviour cannot be tolerated and this kind of sentence shows the seriousness of behaving in this manner.”

BBC News

‘You equate all those of Muslim heritage with grooming gangs and terrorism’ – Judge jails ‘highly racist’ dad who organised Stoke-on-Trent far-right march

By
May 2, 2019
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Racist David Shufflebottom has been locked up after he helped organise an anti-Muslim demonstration in a town centre.

The 33-year-old was a member of far-right group Stoke-on-Trent Infidels, which arranged the ‘Britain First’ protest in Burslem.

He was captured on police body-cam footage waving a huge Union Flag and shouting racist and religious abuse – in the presence of children.

Shufflebottom also posted several offensive posts on Facebook encouraging people to attend an English Defence League march in Worcester.

He has now been jailed for 15 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court, as a senior judge branded him ‘highly racist’.

‘The defendant is entrenched as anti-Muslim…’

Prosecutor Richard McConaghy described Shufflebottom as ‘an orchestrator’ of the Britain First march, which took place in October 2017.

He said: “The defendant is entrenched as anti-Muslim, involved in Britain First marches and a member of the online group the Stoke-on-Trent Infidels.

“The defendant attended the Burslem march and to a certain extent was an orchestrator of what took place. He is seen on the footage repeatedly shouting anti-Muslim abuse.”

Shufflebottom, of Wellfield Road, Bentilee, was arrested in February 2018 and interviewed by police. Mr McConaghy said: “He made it clear he was anti-Muslim and directly criticised the Koran.”

In August last year, while he was still on police bail in relation to that incident, he wrote several posts on his own Facebook page in support of an English Defence League march in Worcester.

He made a number of derogatory comments about Islam, and posted a map of Worcester indicating routes those involved could use to get away from the area where the march was planned.

Shufflebottom also posted a ‘rant about Muslim taxi drivers’ on the Stoke-on-Trent Infidels Facebook page.

The father-of-two pleaded guilty to two charges of racially or religiously-aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress.

The court heard he had 12 previous convictions for 20 offences including racially aggravated public order offences.

Adrian Harris, mitigating, said Shufflebottam had spent his formative years in the care system mixing with certain people that had ‘skewed his thinking and how he perceived the world’.

Mr Harris said: “Between 2012 and 2017 he committed no offences. He moved out of town, had a settled family and accommodation. The tragedy is they then moved to another area, work was not what it was and things spiralled.

“He is a man with an addictive personality and he then found Facebook. It was not his friend.”

The court heard the defendant had now ‘stepped away’ from these type of protests and social media, and wanted to become a role model for his two children.

”Racism is evil…’

Sentencing Shufflebottom to 15 months in prison, Judge Paul Glenn told him: “I find you are highly racist. You seem to equate all those of Muslim heritage with paedophilia, grooming gangs, Muslim extremism and terrorism. You are unable to keep those views to yourself.

“Racism is evil and there is no doubt whatsoever that these offences are so serious that only immediate custody is appropriate.”

Stoke Sentinel

Racist dad abused black school teacher then turned up at gates with an axe

By
March 22, 2019
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A dad hurled racist abuse at his child’s school teacher after they were injured in a playground accident, before returning to the school the next day armed with an axe, a court heard.

Stephen Cosgrove, 36, targeted the teacher, who is black, verbally attacking him with racist and homopohobic slurs after his child’s arm was broken.

The next day, on February 8, he turned up at the gates of Brownhills School in Walsall, West Midlands and continued his rant towards teachers while holding the terrifying weapon.

Stephen Cosgrove has been jailed for a year for racially abusing his child’s black teacher at school and turning up at the gates with an axe

Stephen Cosgrove has been jailed for a year for racially abusing his child’s black teacher at school and turning up at the gates with an axe

Unemployed Cosgrove, of Walsall, has been jailed for a year and handed a restraining order for the public order offences.

He has been ordered not to contact any employee of Brownhills School and not to go within 100 yards of the building.

n a victim impact statement, the teacher, who has not been named, said: ‘I am a black teacher and this is my fifth year in my teaching career.

‘I have never experienced extreme racial abuse, violent threatening behaviour and intimidating far right views from parents at school, as demonstrated by Cosgrove.

‘The constant thought of his threatening acts of violence has caused me to avoid going out publicly due to the overwhelming fear of being injured or assaulted, which has left me feeling vulnerable.’

PC Paul Watts, from West Midlands Police, said after the case: ‘Both the aggressive incidents were witnessed by students at the school, who heard the swearing and racist language.

‘What Cosgrove did was unacceptable and created fear for not only pupils, but the teachers who had to face him.

‘I am glad we have brought this man to justice and hope it can serve as an example that we will not tolerate this type of abuse in our community.’

Metro

Tommy Robinson supporter admits verbally abusing female journalist he said was ‘Muslim-backed’

By
January 10, 2019
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Restaurant owner William Eve denies abuse was religiously aggravated

A Tommy Robinson supporter has admitted verbally abusing a journalist at a protest and accusing her of being “Muslim-backed”.

William Eve, a restaurant owner from north-east London, was caught on camera insulting a female reporter and demanding to know whether she was “with or against” the English Defence League (EDL) founder.

Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard the 57-year-old shouted at Al Jazeera’s Sonia Gallego during a “Free Tommy” protest that merged with a pro-Donald Trump rally in July.

Prosecutor Robert Simpson said: “The complainant is someone who is a reporter for Al Jazeera. She was conducting interviews and recording them.

“She was approached by the defendant, asked who she was, he found out and made the comment ‘so you’re Muslim-backed’. He went on to say she was stupid and call her a slag.”

Eve was filmed demanding to know who Ms Gallego worked for and asking: “Are you with Tommy Robinson or against him?”

The journalist said she was not taking any sides in her reporting but Eve accused her of being “Muslim-backed” and called her “f***ing stupid” when she asked what he meant.

Mr Simpson said he also “jabbed a finger towards” Ms Gallego, who recorded the incident in central London.

Eve, of Adnams walk in Rainham, admitted one count of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm or distress on 14 July.

But he pleaded not guilty to a second count alleging that the harassment was religiously aggravated and is due to go on trial next month.

Deputy district judge Jim Astle released Eve on bail until his trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court on 21 February.

Eve made no comment as he left the court, with a hat pulled over his face.

Police said Robinson supporters at the rally physically attacked officers and hurled racial abuse, while a group also blocked a bus driven by a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf.

Ukip leader Gerard Batten, who has since hired Robinson as an adviser, and anti-Islam politicians from the US, Sweden and Belgium spoke at the event.

It was one of several protests held over the imprisonment of Robinson, who was jailed for allegedly committing contempt of court at a grooming gang trial in May.

The anti-Islam activist, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was released in April after the Court of Appeal overturned the findings because of procedural failings.

Judges ordered a rehearing and the case has been referred to the attorney general for consideration on how it will proceed.

The Independent

Barnsley killer shows no remorse for stamping on Spice user’s head

By
December 14, 2018
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A Barnsley killer who has spent the first night of a life sentence behind bars has shown no remorse for his actions, detectives have revealed.

Ricky Ramsden, aged 27 and formerly of Dodworth Road, was jailed for life yesterday after being found guilty of the murder of 39-year-old Dawid Szubert in Barnsley town centre in June.

He was ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years behind bars for killing Mr Szubert in broad daylight as he lay unconscious near the Civic Gardens after taking the drug Spice.

Ramsden stamped on his victim’s head, triggering a cardiac arrest and Mr Szubert was pronounced dead at the scene.

South Yorkshire Police said the killer had ‘taken exception’ to Mr Szubert having taken Spice and had shown no remorse for the murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Whittaker said: “The brutality and callousness shown by Ramsden is as shocking as it is appalling and throughout our inquiry, he has shown no remorse for his actions and has continued to deny his involvement in Mr Szubert’s death.

“The court heard that on that day Mr Szubert, a Polish national who had lived in Barnsley for approximately two years, had taken the drug spice and was laid unconscious.

“Ramsden took exception to this, walked over to Mr Szubert and stamped on his head, stating that he was sick of seeing spice heads.”

Sheffield Star

Bristol prison officer smuggled £20K of drugs for inmates at time prisoner overdosed

By
December 4, 2018
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Kevin Crehan arrived just as a corrupt prison officer was busted

Kevin Crehan died at HMP Bristol in Horfield

Kevin Crehan died at HMP Bristol in Horfield

HMP Bristol was awash with illegal drugs and phones when an inmate who died of an overdose was first transferred there – because a corrupt prison officer had been smuggling them in, an inquest has heard.

The scale of the drugs problem at the Horfield prison was laid bare at the inquest into the death of Kevin Crehan – by the very person in charge of security at the jail.

Crehan, 35, died in late December 2016, just weeks after being transferred to the Horfield jail.

The first day of a two-week inquest into his death heard he died of a drugs overdose thanks to a cocktail of five prescription drugs, particularly methadone and diazepam.

An inquest jury heard he had been ‘doing well’ in his efforts to get off drugs during the first months of his sentence, served at Guy’s Marsh Prison in Dorset.

The inquest was told he was transferred to Bristol Prison on the last day of November 2016.

Giving evidence to his inquest was Joanne Hadden, the head of security at HMP Bristol, and she was cross-examined by Mikhael Puar, representing the Crehan family.

He asked her exactly how illegal or illicit drugs found their way into the prison.

She described numerous various ways in which drugs enter the cells, and said that at the end of November 2016, just days before Crehan arrived, a prison officer had been discovered smuggling around £20,000 worth of drugs and phones into the prison to sell to inmates.

That prison officer was subsequently sent to prison themselves, for two and a half years.

It meant that, at around the time Crehan arrived, prisoners had little trouble getting their hands on illegal drugs.

Ms Hadden said that this corrupt route had meant an end to the long-standing practice of friends and family throwing illegal drugs over the walls of the prison, a strategy that had returned in the months after that corrupt officer’s supply route was busted.

But she said that there had been other suspicious officers or staff at the prison. She spoke of other people whose work brings them into the prison, about whom there had been intelligence or suspicion.

“There have been members of staff who don’t work within the prison staff themselves who, while they haven’t been arrested, have left or stopped working there and there’s intelligence that there’s a route that has ended,” she explained.

Mr Puar asked if there was a particular problem at Bristol Prison of staff ‘turning a blind eye’ to prisoners accessing or taking drugs.

“You would like to think not but I’m not naive,” said Ms Hadden. “It’s not large scale though.”

It wasn’t just corrupt staff or civilians who brought drugs in.

“Prisoners can be paid thousands of pounds to return very quickly when they are released on licence, so that they can keep the drugs coming in on the inside,” she said.

“They will be released on licence but then make sure they do something which will mean they are arrested and returned to prison, but will have drugs hidden on them.

“Other routes into the prison are from people throwing them over the wall. In those packages will will be phones and drugs,” she added.

Ms Hadden said that visitors to the prison will bring drugs and phones in, and they have increasingly found that drugs like spice will be secreted within paper sent as letters.

“We found this was happening so acted to stop it. Now instead they will send drugs in legal letters to prisoners, which we are not allowed to open, so we have to check with the individual solicitors’ office to check they actually did send this letter or not

“We’ll close down a route and a new route will open up. It’s a continuing problem we have to face.”

The problem of the tide of drugs entering HMP Horfield has been well-documented before, but has been put into the spotlight with the inquest into the death of Kevin Crehan, which began on Monday.

Toxicology tests revealed Crehan had five prescription drugs in his system: Methadone, diazepam, mirtazapin, gavepentin and pregabalin.

Only one of those – methadone – he was actually prescribed, and even then, both the toxicologist and the Home Office pathologist told the inquest it was likely, on the balance of probabilities, the amount of methadone in his system indicated he’d taken extra on top of the 60mg a day he had been prescribed.

The inquest continues.
Bristol Post

Revealed: far-Right Ukip Brexit demo ‘organiser’ is a convicted kidnapper

By
December 2, 2018
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Gerard Batten, in the white shirt and blue tie, sitting to the left of Tommy Robinson, with Daniel Thomas to his right, at the Ukip demo planning meeting Credit: Gerard Batten/Twitter

Gerard Batten, in the white shirt and blue tie, sitting to the left of Tommy Robinson, with Daniel Thomas to his right, at the Ukip demo planning meeting Credit: Gerard Batten/Twitter


A far right activist who claims to be one of the organisers of a Ukip rally and who attended a top level meeting with the party’s leader Gerard Batten has a conviction for attempted kidnap, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

Daniel Thomas, 29, has been instrumental in promoting “The Brexit Betrayal” march, a London demonstration in which the newly appointed Ukip advisor ‘Tommy Robinson’ is expected to speak on December 9.

In a picture tweeted by Gerard Batten on Friday, Thomas is photographed sat next to Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League, alongside the party leader.

Mr Batten tweeted: “Spent the afternoon planning Brexit Betrayal – Brexit Must Mean Exit March & Rally,” adding that the event was a “leaver family day out”.

It can be revealed Thomas, a father of four, was jailed two years ago for the attempted armed kidnapping of a man in Hampshire.

Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, with Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, at a demonstration Credit: Daniel Thomas/Facebook

Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, with Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, at a demonstration Credit: Daniel Thomas/Facebook

Last night, Ukip insisted Thomas was there purely as a Robinson’s bodyguard, despite the photograph showing him sat at the conference table with note paper and having a proven record in organising political rallies.

The revelations could prove to be politically damaging because Ukip’s National Executive Committee is under pressure from former leader Nigel Farage to hold a vote of no confidence in Mr Batten’s leadership when it meets in London.

Last week, Mr Farage wrote a letter to the 15-strong NEC urging it to pass a vote of no confidence in Mr Batten’s leadership over the way he had courted Robinson and pursued an anti-Muslim agenda.

Mr Farage told the Sunday Telegraph: “I am absolutely disgusted with the whole thing. I have been warning repeatedly for the past few months that this was a disastrous course of action. And we are now pretty much at the end game.”

Mr Batten insisted he “was not aware” of Thomas’s conviction and asked to be sent details.

A police mugshot of Daniel Thomas after his arrest for attempted kidnapping

A police mugshot of Daniel Thomas after his arrest for attempted kidnapping

In July 2016, a judge condemned Thomas and two other men for an “extraordinarily frightening incident” matched only by its “stupidity” in which they armed themselves with knives and targeted Graham Page at his home on Hayling Island.

Mr Page told Portsmouth Crown Court that Thomas, along with Darren Anscombe, 38, and Leo Smith, 34, burst into the house shouting “you’re coming with us”.

He claimed they wrongly accused him of stealing £10,000 of drugs from them and tried to drag him away.

Mr Page resisted and the men fled, shouting “we’ll be back”. Upon arrest Thomas, from Hampshire, admitted the offence. He was jailed for two years. The two others received 30 month sentences.

Danny Tommo takes a selfie at one of the far right demonstrations he organised

Danny Tommo takes a selfie at one of the far right demonstrations he organised

After his release from prison last year, Thomas adopted the pseudonym Danny Tommo and organised marches throughout the country calling for Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, to be freed from a sentence for contempt of court.

Thomas became an expert at dealing with local authorities and police to set up protests, where he also gave speeches. He is now among the inner circle of Robinson’s associates and this year organised two rallies outside the Old Bailey when Robinson was appearing there.

Last week, he posted a video to his thousands of followers on Facebook promoting the Ukip march as “the beginning of the political revolution”, adding “we are going to be working together”.

He regularly visits London’s Speakers’ Corner where he films himself arguing with Muslims, and was once handcuffed and detained by police before being released.

Daniel Thomas is led away by police from Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park, London

Daniel Thomas is led away by police from Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park, London

On Saturday night, Thomas said the attempted kidnapping was committed because he “got involved with some stupid people” after experiencing financial difficulty.

“Everyone deserves a second chance,” he said. “I came out of prison and I have turned my life around.

“I now go to church every Sunday and pray for forgiveness. Hopefully I will better myself over the years and this incident will be forgotten.”

He was privately educated and has worked as a bricklayer, sales and marketing manager and run a web design company. However, he has now stopped working to “dedicate everything to the cause.”

Daniel Thomas speaks at the demonstration he organised outside the Old Bailey while Tommy Robinson appears at a hearing Credit: Rmv/Zuma Press / eyevine

Daniel Thomas speaks at the demonstration he organised outside the Old Bailey while Tommy Robinson appears at a hearing Credit: Rmv/Zuma Press / eyevine

Thomas, a former tank driver with the King’s Royal Hussars, from which he was medically discharged before seeing active service, added: “What we are trying to do with Ukip is the future.”

A Ukip spokesman said Thomas was at Friday’s meeting “in the capacity of Mr Robinson’s personal security”.

He added: “Mr Thomas is not part of Ukip’s planning team. He has served his sentence and has returned to the world of work just as Lords Archer and Ahmed have returned to the House of Lords after serving serious criminal convictions.”

Daily Telegraph