Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the activist better known as Tommy Robinson, is facing a possible prison sentence after a jury at Southwark Crown Court found him guilty of harassing two journalists working for the Daily Mail and its sister website.
The 43-year-old was convicted on Wednesday 28 October of two counts of harassment causing fear of violence. The jury reached majority verdicts of 10 to 2 after deliberating for a little over 11 hours, according to Press Gazette. The offence carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison. He was granted bail by the trial judge, Mr Justice John Cavanagh, and is due to be sentenced at the same court on 16 December.
The two men named in the charges were freelance reporter Andrew Young and Daily Mail editor Jacob Dirnhuber.
A row that began on a Cyprus holiday
The case has its roots in the disorder that swept parts of England in August 2024, after the murders of three young girls at a dance class in Southport. At the time, Yaxley-Lennon was on holiday in Cyprus and was posting about the unrest online. The Mail ran a story accusing him of stirring up trouble from abroad, and sent Mr Young and a photographer to the island.
What followed, the jury heard, was a campaign of online attacks and intimidation. Prosecutors told the court that Yaxley-Lennon criticised both journalists on X, where he had a following of around 800,000 at the time, and hired private investigators to track down their home addresses, as well as that of the Mail’s editor-in-chief, Ted Verity.
According to reports of the trial, images of Mr Dirnhuber outside his home and cropped pictures of Mr Young’s family were posted online. During a phone call on 5 August 2024, the prosecution said, Yaxley-Lennon became increasingly menacing towards Mr Young and threatened to come after him.
Both men told the court they feared his supporters could turn on them. Mr Dirnhuber said he and his partner moved out of their home because their address was already known. Associated Press reported that prosecutors portrayed the defendant as a bully and said the journalists had been forced to leave their homes or pay for extra security because they feared a vigilante attack.
Defiance after the verdict
Yaxley-Lennon, who denied the charges, shook his head and stared at the jury as the verdicts were read, AP reported. Soon afterwards he went on X to condemn the decision as absurd and posted a foul-mouthed insult aimed at the Mail’s journalists, according to International Business Times. He insisted he had called for calm during the 2024 riots and said the original story about him was false.
His legal costs were funded by the billionaire Elon Musk, whom he had publicly thanked on X before the trial, according to Press Gazette and AP.
Frank Ferguson, head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said Yaxley-Lennon had turned social media into a weapon in a campaign of harassment against the two men, and that his behaviour had crossed the line into criminality. A Daily Mail spokesperson said the paper was pleased with the outcome and described his conduct as reprehensible, adding that it had grave consequences for its reporters and their families.
Why this case matters for press freedom
Media organisations have watched the trial closely. Journalists in Britain and Ireland routinely report on controversial public figures, and the case turned on whether a campaign of online attacks, combined with efforts to find reporters’ home addresses, could amount to criminal harassment rather than robust criticism. The jury decided that, in this case, it did.
Yaxley-Lennon founded the English Defence League in 2009. AP noted that he has previous convictions, including for assault, mortgage fraud and contempt of court, and that he remains able to draw large crowds to rallies in London.
What happens next
Yaxley-Lennon remains on bail until his sentencing hearing at Southwark Crown Court on 16 December, when Mr Justice Cavanagh will decide his punishment. The judge can impose anything up to the 10-year maximum, though sentences for harassment usually depend on factors such as the harm caused, how long the conduct lasted and any previous offending. Whether he will appeal the conviction has not been confirmed. We will update this story when the sentence is handed down.
Sources
- Press Gazette: Tommy Robinson found guilty of harassing Daily Mail journalists (28 October 2026)
- Associated Press via Yahoo News: Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, found guilty of harassing British journalists (28 October 2026)
- International Business Times UK: Tommy Robinson found guilty of harassing journalists (29 October 2026)
- Crown Prosecution Service News Centre: CPS statement following guilty verdicts in Stephen Lennon harassment trial (listing) (28 October 2026)
- Metropolitan Police News: Man convicted of harassment of journalists (listing) (28 October 2026)
Featured image: Southwark Crown Court.jpg by Christopher Hilton [1], CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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