Tommy Robinson pursued by creditors for an estimated £2m
- Published
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, represented himself at the trial at the Royal Courts of Justice
People owed an estimated £2m by English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson have appointed an independent insolvency expert to try to recover their money before a March deadline.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, declared himself bankrupt last March.
In July, a judge ordered him to pay £100,000 to a refugee schoolboy he had wrongly accused of attacking a girl.
He also owes an estimated £1.5m in legal costs for the boy's lawyers.
Robinson failed to convince the High Court his claims that Jamal Hijazi had attacked "young English girls" in his school in Huddersfield were true.
The legal costs are before any accrued interest.
Other creditors include HMRC, a former business partner and Barrow-In-Furness Borough Council.
The anti-fascism campaign group Hope not Hate is fundraising to pay for the cost of the independent insolvency expert, Heath Sinclair of Richard Long & co.
The expert has until 3 March to try to find any assets or money that Robinson could be hiding, otherwise he will come out of bankruptcy, and it may become harder to recover the money he owes.
Bankruptcies are usually for 12 months, but the independent expert can apply to court to have the discharge from bankruptcy suspended. This can be for a lack of co-operation on the part of the bankrupt, for example.
Until now the work has been done by the official receiver, but the creditors hope the independent expert will uncover more assets.
The expert has the power to look at Robinson's bank records, to interview people under oath and apply for search warrants if necessary.
He and his wife Jenna Lennon divorced in February last year, just before he declared himself bankrupt, and before he lost the libel case.
She owns a large detached house in Bedfordshire where there have been extensive building works over the autumn and winter, including the creation of a gym in the old double garage, and a games room above a new garage being built in the garden.
The house was worth £705,000 when she bought it in November 2020, although she does have a mortgage.
Robinson has been seen at the house talking to builders, sometimes with his ex-wife and sometimes alone, according to anti-fascism activists.
Hope not Hate believes he may have access to up to £3m in assets earned through property, investments, donations and book sales.
It thinks the Bedfordshire house alone could now be worth £1.2m.
The campaign group's chief executive Nick Lowles said it was helping to fund the independent insolvency expert, because Robinson's videos and online comments had "turned Jamal's life upside down".
It added: "Jamal and his family had to move, had to start all over again, got all sorts of threats.
"It just seems outrageous that the person who did that, and then lost a libel case, can walk away scot-free.
"So partly it's about holding him to account and giving some justice to Jamal.
"We need to demonstrate to him and others there are consequences for doing this. You cannot get away with making people's lives a misery, creating lies, dividing communities, whipping up hatred, inspiring others to do attacks and not be held accountable for your actions, and I think for us this is a way to hold him to account."
Social media
During his years as an activist espousing far-right views and campaigns, Robinson built up a strong social media following.
He used crowdfunding techniques and advertising on his social media channels to earn money, but this dried up when he was banned by Facebook and other social media companies.
His main outlet is now on Gettr, a platform set up by Jason Miller, a former aide to former US President Donald Trump.
In November 2013, Robinson pleaded guilty to fraud, and he was subsequently jailed for 18 months.
He also has convictions for stalking, assault, using someone else's passport, using threatening behaviour and contempt of court.