The far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has been arrested by British police on suspicion of grievous bodily harm after a man was allegedly assaulted at a London railway station.
Robinson was arrested on Monday evening at Luton airport as he stepped off a flight from Faro, Portugal.
British Transport Police said in a statement: “Officers from BTP have tonight (4 August) arrested a 42-year-old man from Bedfordshire in connection to an assault at St Pancras station on 28 July.
“The arrest took place at Luton airport shortly after 6.30pm, following a notification that the man had boarded an incoming flight from Faro.
“The man had been wanted for questioning after leaving the country to Tenerife in the early hours of 29 July following the incident at St Pancras.
“He was arrested on suspicion of GBH (grievous bodily harm) and will now be taken to custody for questioning.”
Hours after the incident at St Pancras, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, took a flight out of Britain, landing first in Tenerife, Spain.
Once abroad, Robinson went from Tenerife to Faro in Portugal, flying back to the UK on Monday where police were waiting for him.
He is now in custody, with detectives due to question him.
Video from the scene of the alleged assault, which showed a 64-year-old man on the ground, also recorded Robinson appearing to claim he had acted in self-defence.
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The injured man was released from hospital on Thursday. Police are understood to be treating him as a victim, not a suspect, at this stage. Police have said he was admitted to hospital “with serious injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening”.
CCTV from the busy central London station has been recovered and studied by detectives. Robinson had been leafleting at the station earlier, and on the video can be heard saying “he come at me”.
Robinson is a former leader of the extreme-right English Defence League. The far-right monitoring group Hope Not Hate describes him as the “best-known far-right extremist in Britain”.
Police believe he left Britain shortly after a video was put online showing him near the injured man.
The video does not show how the injured man came to be lying motionless on the floor.
