Tommy Robinson released from prison after sentence reduced
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon left HMP Woodhill on Tuesday after his 18-month sentence was reduced by four months
Far-right political activist Tommy Robinson has walked free from prison after his jail term for breaching an injunction was reduced by four months last week.
The 42-year-old, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, left HMP Woodhill, Buckinghamshire, on Tuesday after his 18-month sentence was cut back at the High Court.
He was jailed for the civil offence of contempt of court in October 2024 after admitting breaches of an injunction which barred him from repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for libel.
After his release, he was filmed speaking on his X social media channel for around 20 minutes with longer hair and a bushy beard, and wearing a rosary around his neck.
Yaxley-Lennon was previously due to be released on 26 July, but had applied to the High Court to purge his contempt order.
He was jailed for 10 admitted breaches of the injunction, after the solicitor general issued two contempt claims against him.
The first claim alleged that he “knowingly” breached the order on four occasions, including by having “published, caused, authorised or procured” a film called Silenced, which contains the libellous allegations, in May 2023.
The film was pinned to the top of the activist’s profile on the social media site X. He also repeated the claims in three interviews between February and June 2023.
The second claim was issued in August 2024 and concerned six further breaches, including playing the film at a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in central London last summer.
In a ruling last Tuesday, Mr Justice Johnson said there was an “absence of contrition or remorse” from Yaxley-Lennon, but that he had shown a “change in attitude” since he was sentenced.
The judge said: “He has given an assurance that he will comply with the injunction in the future [and] that he has no intention of breaching it again.”
The injunction was issued after Yaxley-Lennon was successfully sued by Jamal Hijazi, a then-schoolboy who was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
After a clip of the incident went viral, Yaxley-Lennon made false claims on Facebook, including about Mr Hijazi, leading to the libel case.
Mr Justice Nicklin ordered Yaxley-Lennon to pay Mr Hijazi £100,000 in damages and his legal costs, as well as making the injunction preventing Yaxley-Lennon from repeating the allegations.
Last week, Mr Justice Johnson warned that Yaxley-Lennon could be jailed for up to two years if he breached the injunction again in the future.