In a rare win for sanity in an increasingly deranged British state, Tommy Robinson has walked free from the UK’s two-tier police state’s latest effort at vexatious lawfare.
Tommy Robinson has been found not guilty of a terror offence of failing to provide police with the pin to his mobile phone at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone in July 2024.
As I’ve explained in several posts, in Britain, as in New Zealand and Australia, police cannot simply demand to access your phone. They must either have a warrant or, in extreme cases, if a warrantless search power applies. Such cases are extremely limited. ‘We just reckon’, won’t cut it.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was driving a silver Bentley Bentayga SUV to the Spanish tourist hotspot of Benidorm when he was stopped by officers at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how police were suspicious of the 42-year-old’s “vague replies” about what he was doing and demanded access to his iPhone under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act.
Even in a degraded system like Britain, that is so obviously ludicrous that it couldn’t stick.
District Judge Sam Goozee found Robinson not guilty of failing to comply with the counter-terrorism powers during the incident on July 28 last year.
Robinson was, in effect, arrested for nothing more than being an enemy of the state.
Robinson, who was recognised by police, was led to an interview room and his phone was seized, the court heard.
On the way there, he tried to film a video of himself saying he had been arrested, and was told by officers to “relax”, the trial was told.
Just like doctors say when they’re about to shove a stainless steel torture device up your jacksie... Robinson responded in no less fashion than these tit-headed bullies deserved.
Asked to hand over the phone’s pin, Robinson replied: “Not a chance bruv … you look like c***s so you ain’t having it. It’s my work: I’m a journalist,” he said, adding that the phone held information about “vulnerable girls”.
His only ‘crime’, again, was being Tommy Robinson.
Defending Alisdair Williamson KC had said the stop and detention was unlawful because officers had taken a “discriminatory stance” based on their knowledge of Robinson’s political views.
Mr Williamson said the officers’ intervention was discriminatory because it was based to a “significant degree on a protected characteristic”.
He said the “predominant influence” on PC Mitchell Thorogood’s decision to stop him was “‘oh look, it’s Tommy Robinson’”.
Mr Williamson added: “If MI5 didn’t think that Mr Lennon is a terrorist, what did PC Thorogood think he was going to learn by asking him about publicly available information?”
He suggested Robinson travelled to Benidorm regularly, which should have lessened the officer’s suspicions about him.
Next step should be Tommy sues these bastards to hell and back for wrongful arrest.
