Tommy Robinson has been banned from prosecution (Photo: AFP).
Tommy Robinson harassed a journalist and threatened to falsely accuse his partner of paedophilia to suppress a negative report, a court has heard.
The 38-year-old reportedly told supporters to keep an eye on Lizzie Dearden, a home correspondent for the Independent, after she sent his lawyers an email about the misuse of his supporters’ money.
Seventeen days later Robinson appeared at Mrs Dearden’s home in South London, accompanied by another man in a black Range Rover, and began insulting her outside her home, the court heard.
He screamed: I know you were inside when it was the 17th. January of this year, around 9pm, I frantically pressed the intercom.
When Miss Dearden didn’t show up, Robinson allegedly called out his partner’s name and called him a pedophile.
Ryan Dowding, prosecutor, told the court: You could hear him screaming loudly: I know you’re there. Come out and we’ll take care of it. We’ll be back every day if we have to.
Mr Dowding said the man in the Range Rover honked his horn and shone his headlights at the building as Robinson shouted: There’s a pedophile living in this building.
Robinson threatened to falsely accuse the journalist’s partner of pedophilia (Photo: AFP)
Robinson, who was arrested in connection with the incident, then posted two photos of her partner on the internet before sending Dearden an email in which she falsely claimed to have a source who said her boyfriend was caring for the child, the court heard.
The founder of the English Defence League, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, obtained a court order on Friday to prevent harassment.
He did not appear at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court hearing, where Deputy Chief Justice Tan Ikram heard him on February 2. Juli agreed to issue a temporary injunction pending the filing of a full petition.
Mr Ikram said the order was necessary and proportionate because the action could cause a nuisance and there was an ongoing risk.
He threatened the journalist to stop her investigation (Photo: AFP)
In this case, police say, he did everything he could to convince her not to publish the story, and he tried to do so by threatening to publish his own allegations against his partner, which he said were simply not true.
A report earlier this week revealed that Robinson had filed for bankruptcy despite hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations. It includes allegations that he spent his supporters’ money on coke and prostitutes, which Robinson strongly denies.
The court order prevents Robinson, who lives in Bedfordshire, from contacting Dearden and her partner or posting anything about them on social media unless she names them as authors when responding to an article she has written.
Mr Dowding said Mr Robinson, a well-known public figure and freelance journalist, had previously tried to discredit Ms Dearden by calling her a liar, a hypocrite and a fraud. According to him, this has caused him to receive many comments from others who are much more violent and aggressive.
David Marley, deputy editor of The Independent, said: Lizzie is a brilliant and courageous journalist who reports extensively on the far right, despite regular threats and trolls. What has happened in this case is totally unacceptable. Neither Lizzie nor Independent let threats and intimidation stop them from pursuing important stories.
Get the news you want
Latest news, feelgood, analysis and more
Related Tags:
Privacy settings,How Search works,tim ablitt,lizzie dearden wikipedia
