Far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson entered not guilty pleas as he appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday – he is alleged to have caused reporters ‘fear of violence’ in calls and social media messages
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson told a journalist “I’m coming to get you” and shared photos of his home on social media, a court heard today.
Robinson allegedly caused the reporters to “fear violence would be used against them” and published images of the wife and daughter of one of them on social media. Robinson, 42, real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is accused of targeting the journalists through his X account, formerly Twitter, between August 5 and 7 2024.
He appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. Wearing a blue waistcoat and carrying a man bag, Robinson entered not guilty pleas after the details of the charges were read out.
He is charged with two counts of harassment causing fear of violence to MailOnline reporters Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber. Robinson is accused of telling Mr Young in a phone call that he would visit his house, adding “I’m coming to get you”. He is also alleged to have posted on his X account on August 6 last year at 10.45pm, three edited photographs depicting Mr Young’s wife and daughter, with the message: “Hey JDirnhuber get your colleague Andrew Young to call me back, you see he published pictures of my family and gave away their location.
“I’m working on a news piece myself about all of you, I won’t identify any innocent people or give address as that’s not morally right unlike you scum. You will all be questioned on camera about how you think endangering children is ok. My homework continues.”
Robinson is further charged with harassment causing fear of violence by allegedly posting from his X account a direct message to Mr Dirnhuber on August 5 last year at 8.50am in which he said “I’ll be knocking at your door”. On the same day, he is also alleged to have posted direct messages to Mr Dirnhuber saying “Let your bosses know I’m coming to all your houses”, “Okay got your address” and “We need to talk”.
On August 6 at 9.43pm, Robinson is alleged to have posted on X: “Got ya Jdirnhuber this is Jacob, he likes to locate and endanger families. Jacob and the rest of the Daily Mail journalists who were involved in endangering my children have today been located. I look forward to hearing on camera your justification for doxxing my children’s location. I got all three of you tagged and bagged in one day.”
He is also alleged to have posted on August 6 last year at 10.50pm a direct message on X to Mr Dirnhuber in which he said: “I’ll bring my questions to all of your doors.” Prosecutors told a previous hearing that none of the alleged harassment contained direct threats of violence.
After the last hearing, Robinson said he had “never had” the opportunity to have a jury trial and wanted “12 members of the British public” to hear the evidence in the case. Robinson spoke to confirm his name at the brief hearing and waved at his supporters in the public gallery.
His Honour Judge Tony Baumgartner set a trial date of October 19 2026 with a five-day jury trial estimate at Southwark Crown Court. A pre-trial review was also set for October 5 2026.
