Tommy Robinson put in solitary confinement after death threats

Tommy Robinson was moved to solitary confinement amid fears he ‘would be killed by a lifer’ in prison – now he is trying to return to general population.

From his first day of an 18-month sentence for contempt of court, after breaching a court injunction, Robinson found himself in ‘conflict’ with Muslim prisoners, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) claimed.

This led to him being moved from HMP Belmarsh to HMP Woodhill, in Milton Keynes, last November

But there remained threats to Robinson’s safety, Tom Cross, from the MoJ, told the High Court today.

He said: ‘HMP Woodhill received several intelligence reports showing a non-speculative risk to the claimant, including that two other prisoners at HMP Woodhill were plotting to assault the claimant to gain kudos and notoriety, and that the claimant had a “mark on his head” and would be killed by a lifer if located on a wing.’

Unlike other prisoners in solitary confinement, Mr Robinson has access to a laptop able to send and receive emails ‘in their thousands’, Mr Cross said.

He also has access to a prison gym for three hours a day.

Despite ‘more permissive’ arrangement being done to protect Mr Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – his barristers are now trying to get him returned to general population.

‘The solitary confinement is destroying my mind’, Robinson said last month through his barrister, Alisdair Williamson KC.

‘I am terrified of the long-term consequences of the continued solitary confinement. I feel I am being provoked to react. I want to leave prison mentally well, not mentally broken.’

The anti-immigration activist, who previously led the English Defence League, also claimed the ‘continued isolation’ was ‘politically motivated because of my activism and beliefs’.

Robinson’s detention in the closed wing of HMP Woodhill is ‘ultimately an interim position’ until repairs are completed on an alternative wing, Mr Cross claimed.

Transfer to another prison had been considered, but ‘there is not presently another option where the risk to the claimant, and to good order or discipline, could be better managed’, the court heard.

Mr Cross said: ‘The significant risks both to the claimant’s own safety and to the good order or discipline of the prison required him to remain removed from association with other prisoners, subject to review.’

Representing Robinson, Mr Williamson blamed Woodhill Prison’s ‘significant Muslim population’ for ‘causing a difficulty’ that’s led to Robinson’s segregation from other prisoners.

He told the court: ‘We are presented with a position that Woodhill is not a safe place for him to be unless he is in segregation, but that segregation is, we suggest, harming him.’

He added: ‘It is clear, we submit, that the distress he is suffering goes beyond that which is inherent in incarceration.’

Mr Williamson appealed to the court to allow Robinson to be moved to a different prison where he won’t have to be in isolation.

The hearing before Mr Justice Chamberlain is set to conclude later on Thursday.

Robinson was jailed last October after admitting 10 breaches of a High Court order, made in 2021, barring him from repeatingn false, libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him.

The Syrian refugee was a schoolchild when the allegations were first made. Robinson repeated the lies at a protest in 2023.

He is due to be released on July 26.

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