Tommy Robinson 'retaliated' to Daily Mail's race-riots expose by hiring private investigators to track down two journalists to their homes, court hears

Tommy Robinson hired private investigators to hunt down two Daily Mail journalists to their homes, he told a jury today.

The far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, said he wanted to 'put pressure on them' after the Mail angered him by publishing an article saying he was 'stoking race riots from his sunbed'.

He is on trial accused of using 'bullyboy, intimidatory tactics' to threaten the two reporters in 'retaliation' for their journalism.

Entering the witness box at London's Southwark Crown Court, wearing a navy waistcoat, blue shirt and tie, the activist gave his name as Stephen Lennon and stated his occupation as 'journalist'.

Lennon described his anger after the Mail published a front-page picture of him, on his mobile phone on his sunbed, in Cyprus in the summer of 2024.

It was during the riots engulfing England triggered by the murder of three schoolgirls at a dance class in Stockport, and he had been tweeting about it.

At the time, the Prime Minister was denouncing individuals 'who were whipping up trouble and running away'.

Lennon, 43, a founder of the English Defence League, agreed when his barrister Alisdair Williamson KC said he had made a 'rather intemperate statement' about the anti-migrant riots. But he insisted that really he had 'trying to calm the situation the whole time'.

He is accused of two charges of harassment causing fear of violence, which he denies, against Mail journalists Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber, who had revealed how Lennon was using his Tommy Robinson account on X to tweet about the riots from his Cyprus holiday resort.

Today he said that after reading the Mail's report: 'I was angry, I'm not going to deny.'

Lennon allegedly sent Mr Dirnhuber the message: 'I'll be knocking on your door'.

And after a photo of Mr Dirnhuber was subsequently posted on X outside his home address, Lennon reposted the tweet on his Tommy Robinson X account with the words 'Got ya', adding: 'I got all three of you tagged & bagged in 1 day'.

He allegedly phoned Mr Young 'swearing and shouting', saying he had researched Mr Young's family and telling him: 'I'm coming to get you.'

A man identifying himself as 'Tommy Robinson' also left a voicemail on the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Mail's mobile phone saying: 'I've already located every f***ing one of you.'

Lennon has millions of followers, and one post from a follower directed at Mr Dirnhuber read: 'Can't wait to see your face and beat the ever-loving f*** out of you.' The defendant said he had no knowledge of this.

During his spell in the witness box, Lennon said he had been 'shocked and scared' after the article, because he claimed the Mail had taken pictures of his family and had revealed his hotel location which he claimed had led to 'six or seven' groups of men 'looking for' him.

The jury at Southwark Crown Court has been told that no identifiable photographs of Lennon's children were ever published in print or online.

Prosecutor Ben Holt said: 'You do realise, Mr Lennon, how the Daily Mail worked out where you were - from your own posts?

'It follows that, had you been relaxing with your children, not posting on X, they would not have found you.'

Lennon replied: 'I didn't realise. I thought they had a tracker.' He added that Mr Dirnhuber, a junior editor, must be 'the best tracker there is', adding: 'He is obviously a skilled investigator.'

He also admitted he had not actually asked the Mail to remove a photograph said to show his ex-wife – which did not name her, and was captioned only as 'Robinson and his friends'. He explained not asking for it to be removed by saying he 'didn't want to draw attention to the picture'.

Nor did he complain to the Press regulator IPSO, or instruct libel lawyers, because they cost him too much. Instead, he said, he had decided to send private investigators to the journalists' homes because 'I didn't see any other option.'

Video played in court showed Lennon saying of his approach: 'What is good for the goose is good for the gander'.

He later added: 'I am giving warnings to journalists.'

Mr Holt asked: 'Mr Lennon, I suggest you knew full well what you were doing, posting these messages, putting out their whole addresses, so they would be afraid, fearful of violence.'

Lennon replied: 'They are fearful of the camera. I am asking the questions on camera, that is what they are afraid of.'

He said he had hired private investigators to find the journalists at their home addresses. 'It's what they've done to me,' he told the jury.

He said it was 'not done to intimidate them'. Lennon said he wanted to track down the journalists who wrote the story about him to 'question them on camera', and did not want to cause any harm to their families. He said: 'I would find the men and get them on camera.'

Lennon said he had hired a private investigation company to find Mr Young and Mr Dirnhuber and take photographs of them outside their homes.

He said: 'I wanted to find the journalists', adding he wanted to 'put pressure on them'.

He further told jurors he had requested photographs 'to confirm the identities' of the journalists he was tracking down, and to know: 'Is he in the house, is he there?', the court heard.

Asked what he meant when he said he had 'tagged and bagged' the reporters, he said: 'I got the location of the journalists within 24 hours. I looked forward to asking questions.'

Asked if he thought his course of conduct was 'reasonable', he said: 'I felt it was totally reasonable, under the circumstances.'

Prosecutor Mr Holt asked Lennon about a phone call to Mr Young during which the activist allegedly said: 'I know where you live.'

'That's a typically threatening thing to say,' said Mr Holt. Lennon replied: 'I told him (Mr Young), I told everyone: I don't want to be doing this.'

'You were just threatening them,' said Mr Holt.

'It really wasn't like that,' Lennon replied. When Mr Holt asked if he was 'bullying' the journalist, Lennon replied: 'No, I was trying to pressure him.'

Mr Holt asked if he screamed down the phone at Mr Young, and he replied: 'I did raise my voice, yes. I was panicked. I was angry, I'm not going to deny.'

Lennon denied that having private investigators take photographs of the home addresses of Mr Dirnhuber and Mr Young was 'designed to intimidate them', saying: 'It's what they've done to me. It was not done to intimidate them.'

The activist accepted that he had never identified a picture in the Mail's online article showing his ex-wife as 'the real problem' or asked anyone to take it down. He said he had not wanted to draw attention to it.

He told the court: 'I was in a mad panic, I wasn't really thinking about them or their families to be honest.'

The defendant said taking pictures of Mr Young's family were 'a bargaining chip for me,' adding: 'I purposefully didn't do to them what they had done to me.'

The trial continues.