Tommy Robinson to face contempt of court proceedings

Robinson was ordered to pay more than £43,000 in legal costs in November 2020

Tommy Robinson has been summonsed to face contempt proceedings after he failed to attend court to answer questions over his finances.

The English Defence League founder, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, missed last month's High Court hearing.

He was due to be quizzed over unpaid legal bills after he lost a libel case brought by a Syrian teenager last year.

Mr Justice Nicklin said an arrest warrant could be issued if Yaxley-Lennon fails to attend court on 6 May.

In an order dated last Friday, the senior judge said the defendant's previous non-attendance was referred to him as a potential contempt of court.

Yaxley-Lennon was successfully sued by Jamal Hijazi, a former schoolboy who was the victim of an attack at a Huddersfield school featured in a viral video.

A court found Yaxley-Lennon had falsely claimed in two Facebook videos posted in October 2018 that Mr Hijazi had attacked female pupils.

The defendant was ordered to pay more than £43,000 in legal costs at a preliminary hearing in November 2020, and declared bankruptcy about four months later.

March's hearing was told this was later discharged.

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Mr Hijazi's lawyers, who successfully applied to bring Yaxley-Lennon to court to discuss his finances, claim his bankruptcy application was "not a full account of [his] assets".

Judge John Dagnell, who presided over the missed hearing, agreed the defendant "knew perfectly well" he was required to be in court and referred the case.

Robinson was jailed for contempt of court in May 2018 after he livestreamed footage of defendants in a grooming gang case, in breach of a reporting ban.

He served two months of a 13-month jail term before being freed upon appeal, only to be jailed again for the offence in July 2019 after the case was referred back to the Attorney General.