Jailed Tommy Robinsons film Silenced was funded by US radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones who falsely claimed Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax
The film that led to Tommy Robinson being handed an 18-month prison sentence was funded by notorious American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, it has emerged.
The film that led to Tommy Robinson being handed an 18-month prison sentence was funded by notorious American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, it has emerged.
Robinson - real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - was jailed yesterday after admitting ten breaches of a court injunction put in place to prevent him from repeating false allegations about a Syrian refugee.
Four of the counts related to the publication and subsequent distribution of Robinsons film Silenced, which the 41-year-old released in June 2023.
Sasha Wass KC, defending Robinson, told Woolwich Crown Court yesterday that the films production was funded by InfoWars, a company run by Jones - who is best known for claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.
Ms Wass said the documentary had been effectively commissioned by InfoWars, with the firm funding its costs and providing equipment that was used in its production.
Tommy Robinson appearing on The Alex Jones Show in 2018
Robinson at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday as he pleaded guilty to contempt
Jones claimed for a decade that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, in which 20 children and six staff members were gunned down, was a hoax
She told a judge that although Robinson was the driving force behind the one-hour 45-minute film, it actually belonged to others.
Jones founded InfoWars in 1999 and quickly gained a huge audience thanks to his combative style and penchant for spreading wild conspiracy theories.
He suggested the dead six and seven-year-olds were crisis actors, but finally admitted it had not been faked shortly before he was ordered to pay more than $1bn in compensation to the victims families after a pair of highly publicised court battles.
Jones was controversially reinstated onto X by Elon Musk in December last year, and since then has regularly expressed his support for Robinson.
Last week, he tweeted that the bad guys would come for Tommy.
We all need to be prepared for the bad guys to come for Tommy and be ready to come to his support, he said.
The fact that he had X to expose the lies of the Labour government that was trying to set him up was key.
After Robinson was remanded in custody on Friday ahead of his court appearance yesterday, Jones wrote: The UK is now run like North Korea. FREE Tommy ROBINSON NOW!!!
The pair have long shared a relationship, with Robinson appearing on The Alex Jones Show in 2018.
Robinson had been barred from repeating false allegations against Jamal Hijazi, after the then-schoolboy successfully sued him for libel.
At his sentencing yesterday, Mr Justice Johnson acknowledged Robinson initially complied with the 2021 injunction until around February 2023, when he was asked about the Hijazi case in an interview.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is seen arriving at Folkestone Police Station on Friday
Jones suggested the dead six and seven-year-olds were crisis actors, but finally admitted it had not been faked shortly before he was ordered to pay more than $1bn in compensation to the victims families
But the judge said: The primary harm caused by each breach is the corrosive effect it has on the administration of justice.
He said the fact Robinson continued to host the offending video on his social media further signalled his determination to defy the injunction.
He said: The defendant has not shown any remorse for breaches of the order, it would be surprising if he had done so.
The defendant has not shown any inclination to comply with the injunction in the future. All of his actions so far suggest he regards himself as above the law.
(He) continues to maintain material on his social media account in breach of the injunction, even as this hearing takes place.
The judge said Robinson could receive a four-month reduction in his sentence if he showed contrition and removed the video from his social media, while making efforts to have it taken down elsewhere.
The activists contempt breaches include broadcasting a film titled Silenced, at a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in July - one of six actions claimed to have breached the injunction between June and July this year.
The film is also pinned to the top of his X account.
Mr Hijazi successfully sued Robinson after the then-schoolboy was assaulted at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in October 2018.
Robinson made false claims after a clip of the incident went viral, including about Mr Hijazi attacking girls in his school, leading to the libel case.
Mr Justice Nicklin ordered Robinson to pay Mr Hijazi £100,000 in damages and his legal costs, as well as making the injunction preventing Robinson from repeating the allegations he made against the then-teenager.
In a separate matter, Robinson has also been charged with failing to provide the PIN to his mobile phone under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act.
Mr Justice Johnson said yesterday that he would not suspend Robinsons sentence due to the seriousness of the offending and because the defendant has a history of poor compliance with court orders
It follows his arrest in July at a port in Kent where he was accused of failing to comply with demands from police.
Under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, officers are allowed to stop anyone passing through a UK port to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
He will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on November 13 in relation to the latter incident.
Robinson posted a video of himself arriving at Luton Airport on October 20 and said he was surprised he had not been arrested.
He then handed himself in to police, accompanied by a large entourage and many supporters. He was remanded in custody ahead of todays hearing.
On Saturday, thousands of his supporters gathered in central London for a protest which Robinson missed after he was remanded.
Demonstrators carried placards reading Two tier Keir fuelled the riots - a reference to the widespread disorder across the UK this summer amid anger over the Southport dance class massacre, after misinformation on social media wrongly identified the suspected killer as a Muslim migrant - and chanted We want Tommy out as they headed from Victoria station to Parliament Square.
Two people were arrested from the far-right march - one for a racially aggravated public order offence and a second for breach of the Public Order Act conditions.
A further pair were arrested for assault at the Stand Up To Racism counter protest.
Key landmarks close to the march routes - including the Cenotaph and the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square - were sealed off from the public amid concerns about damage.
