LONDON: Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, has been fined £900 ($1,102) after being found in contempt of court and could face prison if he fails to pay.
Robinson had been expected in court over unpaid legal costs after losing a libel case last year brought by a Syrian teenager, who Robinson, falsely, claimed had attacked girls in his school.
The claims came after the teenager, Jamal Hijazi, was assaulted at his school in Huddersfield, England, in October 2018, with the footage going viral.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was ordered to pay over £100,000 in damages and legal costs totaling around £500,000.
In March, he was ordered to attend court after Hijazi’s lawyers asked for Robinson’s finances to be examined, but he failed to show up.
He claimed he had been suffering from poor mental health at the time of the hearing and that he had been harassed, but presiding judge Mr. Justice Nicklin dismissed this defense.
“Whatever psychiatric issues Mr. Lennon had, they did not prevent him from coming to the hearing that he failed to turn up at,” he said.
Nicklin said that video footage published online of Robinson fundraising for his legal costs included the phrases: “Don’t let them lock Tommy up again” and “Keep him free of the clutches of the corrupt establishment.”
However, the judge decided that current conditions were not “serious enough to justify a period of imprisonment” in his view.
“I’ve decided to punish Mr. Yaxley-Lennon’s contempt by imposing a fine,” Nicklin added, giving Robinson 14 days to meet the fine.
He could serve 28 days in prison if he fails to do so.
Robinson was previously jailed for contempt of court after filming men he had accused of sexually exploiting young girls and streaming the footage on Facebook outside a court in the city of Leeds in 2018.
He served two months of a 13-month sentence after his conviction was overturned on appeal.
He was later returned to jail in July 2019 after his appeal was overturned by the UK attorney general.
In June, Robinson told the High Court that, over a two-year period before declaring bankruptcy, he lost over £100,000 on gambling.
