The far-right anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, has lost an appeal against his 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court. Yaxley-Lennon was jailed in October 2024 after he ignored a court order not to repeat lies about a Syrian refugee, who had successfully sued him for libel.
The 42-year-old appealed against the sentence on Friday, with the Court of Appeal told his segregation from other inmates at HMP Woodhill was damaging to his mental health. In a ruling on Wednesday morning, April 16, 2025, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis, and Lord Justice Warby dismissed the appeal. "The judge's application of the law and his reasoning on the appropriate sanction in this case both exhibit a meticulous approach," they said.
Following the ruling, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office stated that Yaxley-Lennon's 18-month sentence "reflected how gravely the court considers contempt." The spokesperson added, "We respect the court's decision to refuse permission to appeal the sentence imposed." This latest ruling marks Yaxley-Lennon's second court defeat in less than a month, after he lost a closely related challenge to his segregation in jail in March 2025.
Yaxley-Lennon, who hails from Luton, was imprisoned after breaching a court order put in place following a costly libel trial in 2021. The former leader of the now-defunct English Defence League had falsely claimed in an online video that a Syrian teenager named Jamal Hijazi was a violent thug. He subsequently repeated that false allegation during a rally at London's Trafalgar Square last year and ultimately admitted to 10 breaches of the court order.
The judge who sentenced Yaxley-Lennon last October acknowledged that it was likely he would need to be separated from other inmates for his own safety. He is currently held on a closed wing at Woodhill in Milton Keynes, away from other prisoners, but has contact with staff and has access to a phone and laptop.
Baroness Carr stated that the court had carefully considered Yaxley-Lennon's complaints about his treatment in prison when arriving at its decision. "He says that he cannot now watch GB News. The DVDs that he has are limited. He is not given as much time for telephone calls as has been suggested and these are 'continually cut'," she wrote in the judgment. However, she concluded that there was "no reasonable basis" for the argument that his conditions were "so substantially worse than the judge anticipated" at the time of sentencing that his sentence required reduction.
Yaxley-Lennon is due to be released on license in July 2025, at the halfway point of his sentence. His legal team has argued that his detention in segregation is affecting his mental health, claiming he suffers from ADHD and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Alisdair Williamson KC, representing Yaxley-Lennon, told the court last week that the conditions of his segregation were making him "ill" and had a "demonstrable effect" on him.
He argued that Mr. Justice Johnson, the sentencing judge, acknowledged the potential impact on Yaxley-Lennon's mental health and had reduced the sentence by four months based on the information available at that time. Williamson claimed that the current conditions were more onerous than anticipated and requested the court to interfere with the order to reduce the sentence imposed.
However, the Solicitor General opposed the appeal, asserting that Robinson "remains defiantly in breach of the order" and was asking for the court's "indulgence." The Solicitor General added that there was "no evidence that the conditions in which the appellant is being held are more severe than was anticipated" by the sentencing judge.
In a 15-page ruling, the panel of appeal judges stated that new evidence regarding Robinson's mental health did not demonstrate either a significant exacerbation of a known medical condition or a material new factor. They concluded, "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."
The decision was a second court defeat in less than a month after a bid to bring a legal challenge against the Government over his segregation at HMP Woodhill was thrown out of the High Court. The Ministry of Justice opposed his bid, stating that his segregation was "substantively more permissive" than standard regimes, providing him access to a laptop, 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 authorized to visit Robinson, with more than 80 visits already conducted. A judge had dismissed his previous challenge, declaring his case "not arguable."
Robinson's legal troubles have garnered significant media attention, particularly due to his controversial statements and actions. He has been accused by various media outlets and politicians of inflaming tensions that led to riots across Britain in late July after the murder of three young girls at a dance workshop in Southport. His social media account claimed that U.S. billionaire Elon Musk was covering some of his legal fees, although Musk has not confirmed this.
As Yaxley-Lennon continues to serve his sentence, the implications of his actions and the court's response highlight ongoing tensions surrounding free speech, misinformation, and the legal boundaries of public discourse. His case remains a focal point in discussions about the responsibilities of public figures and the consequences of their statements.
