Trial hears Tommy Robinson hired private detectives

**Trial hears Tommy Robinson hired private detectives**

Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has been giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court

Political activist Tommy Robinson has told a court that he hired private detectives to track down and photograph two reporters in order to "put pressure" on them.

The 43-year-old from Bedfordshire, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, gave evidence on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court and said he had been "shocked and scared" when the Daily Mail ran a story accusing him of "stoking race riots from his sunbed".

He denies two counts of harassment causing fear of violence against reporters Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber in the wake of the 2024 Southport attacks.

Robinson is accused of posting on X, sending direct messages and making phone calls that caused the two journalists to fear the possibility of vigilante attacks.

He denied any intention to expose the journalists to threats of violence, saying his actions were "totally reasonable...under the circumstances".

Robinson told the court he wanted to locate the Daily Mail journalists and question them about an article

In early August 2024, he was on holiday at the Atlantica Mare resort in Cyprus while riots broke out in England after the murders of three girls in Southport.

He told the jury he was away with "my ex-wife, my three children and three other families and their children".

He said he had kept his ex-wife and children out of sight "for 17 years -and that meant travelling in separate cars".

In the witness box, he said he had not "stoked" the riots, but had tried to "calm" them.

When the Daily Mail published an article online, he said: "I was shocked, I was scared.

"I'm scared because the Mail Online is the biggest publication in the world."

He said the original article made it easy for people to work out where he was staying on holiday, and it included a picture of his wife.

He panicked, believing it would "change her life forever", he said.

Robinson told the jury that his 12-year-old daughter had received rape threats, and that his wife had previously been threatened with an acid attack.

He said he tried to phone the editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail, but he did not answer.

"They could have run the story without giving my location," he said.

"They shouldn't have done that and this is not journalism, this is endangering us."

Tommy Robinson denies the charges of harassment causing fear of violence against two Daily Mail journalists

The court heard that Robinson used a private detective to get the journalists' telephone numbers and email addresses.

He called Andrew Young, the Daily Mail reporter who had tracked him down in Cyprus.

"I wanted my ex-wife's picture removed from the publication," he said.

"I said: 'You're not going to get away from this problem. I'm going to ask you these questions, you've endangered my children'."

"I wanted to find the journalists ... I needed to question them, " he told the jury.

"I would find the men on camera and ask them how was I stoking race riots?"

He asked the private investigators to try to obtain pictures of the journalists and their family members.

Young told the court in a statement that Robinson said during the call, "I'm coming to get you."

Young said he had needed private security after the defendant posted pictures on X of his wife and daughter near their home, with their faces cropped off.

And Dirnhuber said in a statement read to the jury that he had left his home for a week after Robinson posted a picture of him outside his house on X.

He said he feared the risk of a "vigilante attack."

Robinson denies both charges and the trial continues.