Tommy Robinson cries in court over Daily Mail story's effect on his children, harassment trial hears he hired private investigators to trace the journalists and posted a picture of one editor outside his home on X, he insists the paper endangered his family by publishing his Cyprus location

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Tommy Robinson said he hired private investigators to find the home addresses of freelance journalist Andrew Young and editor Jacob Dirnhuber and take photographs (PA) independent.co.uk

Tommy Robinson said he had tagged Elon Musk in one of his posts on X about the Daily Mail article because there were guidelines against posting addresses on the platform, and he was hoping to get the article removed (Reuters) Reuters

Criticising the newspaper’s story, Tommy Robinson told the jury: ‘I would not endanger any innocent family’ (Reuters) Reuters

standard.co.uk

Tommy Robinson became tearful at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday when his defence barrister Alisdair Williamson KC asked how his children had been affected by a Daily Mail article. The story, headlined "Stoking riots from his sunbed", was published in August 2024 while the 43-year-old — real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, founder of the English Defence League — was on holiday with his family in Cyprus. He is on trial for harassment and has pleaded not guilty.

He told the jury he was "shocked and scared" when the story went online and his phone "started going crazy with people messaging me". Within hours, he said, people were posting the name of his hotel and "telling people to head there". He left the hotel, and his family moved to a different part of it after he spoke with security. He was, in his own words, "panicked and terrified that what was online currently was about to change my wife's life forever". The Mail, he said, could have run the story without his location: "this is not journalism, this is endangering us."

What brings him before the court is his own reply. Robinson told the jury he hired private investigators to find the home addresses of freelance journalist Andrew Young and editor Jacob Dirnhuber and to photograph them. He posted a picture of Dirnhuber outside his home on X — "totally reasonable … under the circumstances", he told the court — because he wanted to put pressure on him. Asked whether he had meant to expose the editor to threats of violence, Robinson answered: "Not at all. I didn't really think about what he was being exposed to." He said he wanted to find the journalists and question them on camera about how he was stoking race riots, while insisting he "would not endanger any innocent family". He called Young on August 5 to ask about "the wrongness of what they had done"; Young, the alleged victim, described the call as menacing. The court has previously heard that Robinson used "bully-boy, intimidatory tactics" to frighten the journalists through posts and direct messages.

Two further details from the witness box, as reported by the Independent and the Press Association. Robinson said he was trying to get the Mail to remove an image of his ex-wife from the story. And he tagged Elon Musk in a post about the article — because X's guidelines prohibit posting addresses, he explained, and he hoped the article would be removed.

The trial sits beside the events the headline invoked. Robinson agreed that after the murders of three girls in Southport he made a "rather intemperate statement", but said he then issued calls for calm: "Anyone following what I was saying would have seen I was trying to calm the situation the whole time."

The jury must decide whether his campaign against the journalists crossed into harassment. Robinson's evidence ends where it began: the newspaper that published his location endangered his family, and the photograph of an editor outside his house was totally reasonable, under the circumstances.