Tommy Robinson has lost a bid to reduce his 18-month jail term for repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Lawyers for the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, argued his detention in prison segregation is making him ill at a hearing at the High Court last week.
In a ruling on Wednesday, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Lord Justice Warby dismissed the appeal.
They said the sentencing judge had taken a “meticulous approach” to deciding the appropriate sanction, adding: “The evidence falls far short of the standard for a successful criminal appeal based on fresh medical evidence.”
The 42-year-old was jailed for contempt of court last October by Mr Justice Johnson after he admitted to 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021.
Robinson had been barred from repeating false allegations against a refugee called Jamal Hijazi. Mr Hijazi successfully sued Robinson for libel after the then-schoolboy was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
He was accused of “thumbing his nose at the court” in front of millions of people in the “flagrant” breaches after the defamatory allegations were repeated in six podcast and YouTube interviews undertaken by Robinson since February 2023, including with Jordan Peterson.
A 90-minute documentary called Silenced, which “substantially repeats” the allegations, was also published or aired on four occasions, including on Twitter/X – where it was viewed by 44 million people – and to crowds at a rally in Trafalgar Square in July 2024.
At one point, the film was reshared by controversial far-right influencer Andrew Tate to 2.2 million followers.
The founder of the now-defunct English Defence League is currently set to be released on 26 July, but insists his detention at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes is impacting his mental health.
Alisdair Williamson KC told the court last week that Robinson suffers from ADHD and “complex post-traumatic stress disorder”, which, when combined with his segregation in prison, was having a “demonstrable effect” on him.
He said: “Mr Justice Johnson acknowledged that ... there could be an effect on Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s mental health and, along with other factors, he reduced the sentence he was going to impose by one-sixth, four months.
“But he did not have before him this additional factor, which in of itself means that the conditions that Mr Yaxley-Lennon faces are more onerous.”
He continued: “He is being kept safe by the authorities in segregation, but being kept safe is making him ill, and more ill than Mr Justice Johnson could have foreseen on the basis of the information before him.
“We invite this court to interfere with that order to reduce the sentence imposed.”
The Solicitor General opposed the appeal bid, arguing that Robinson “remains defiantly in breach of the order” and was asking for the court’s “indulgence”.
He added there was “no evidence that the conditions in which the appellant is being held are more severe than was anticipated” by sentencing judge Mr Justice Johnson.
In a 15-page ruling, the panel of appeal judges said new evidence about Robinson’s mental health “does not on analysis show either a significant exacerbation of a known medical condition or a material new factor”.
They said: “Even taking the appellant’s case at its highest, we see no reasonable basis for the contention that the conditions that he is experiencing are so substantially worse than the judge anticipated at the time of the sanction decision as to call for a downward adjustment.”
Following the ruling, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office said: “Stephen Yaxley-Lennon repeatedly ignored judges' orders and continued to spread libellous allegations.
“His 18-month sentence reflected how gravely the court considers contempt. We respect the court’s decision to refuse permission to appeal the sentence imposed.”
The appeal comes after he last month lost a separate legal challenge over his detention in solitary confinement due to threats against him in prison.
The Ministry of Justice opposed his bid, telling the court his segregation was “substantively more permissive” than standard regimes, with access to a laptop and emails, several hours of daily exercise and four hours of social phone calls each day.
Tom Cross, representing the ministry, noted that 120 people had been authorised to visit Robinson, with more than 80 visits already conducted.
A judge dismissed his challenge, saying his case was “not arguable”.
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