Staff Reporter
FAR-RIGHT ex-convict and founder of the English Defence League Stephen Yaxley-Lennon has been banned from attending football matches around the world.
The fraudster grabbed headlines in Spain this summer when he claimed, and then denied, that he was moving his family to the Costa del Sol due to ‘safety concerns.’
His four year ban was handed down after the 38-year-old, who also uses the name Tommy Robinson, was filmed punching an England fan to the ground in Portugal during the Nations League finals.
That footage, from June 2019, was used by Bedfordshire Police to bring a civil case against Yaxley-Lennon on December 15.
The order bans him from ‘all regulated football matches, home and abroad’ for four years – including England at the next two Euro tournaments and the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
The diminutive Luton man has courted controversy since 2005 and has various convictions to his name as well as a number of jail sentences.
Some are for fraud, others are related to his far-right activism and anti-Muslim and anti-refugee stance.
He claimed that he was relocating his entire family to the Marbella area of Costa del Sol in July 2020, due to pressure and alleged threats to his family – although none of the threats were proven.
A leading Spanish academic openly criticised Yaxley-Lennon’s double-standards for wanting to settle here as an immigrant.
He said it was curious that ‘someone who would expel all the refugees from the UK and then apparently run to Spain for refuge.’
This week’s banning order for ‘causing or contributing to violence’ adds to his long list of previous misdemeanours.
Yaxley-Lennon’s criminal record (courtesy of TommyRobinsonFacts.com)
2005 – Assault
Assault occasioning actual bodily harm, for which he was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment, and assault with intent to resist arrest, for which he received a concurrent term of three months.
2010 – Assaulting a police officer
He was charged with assaulting a police officer during clashes at a poppy burning protest.
2011 – Rooftop protest
Yaxley-Lennon and EDL co-founder Kevin Carroll flew to Zurich to protest on the roof of a FIFA building that England were not allowed to wear poppies on their kit because of FIFA’s political symbol ban. They were fined £3,000 for their troubles.
2011 – Assault
Convicted of assault for an attack at an EDL march in Blackburn.
2011 – Riot
Guilty of leading a brawl that included 100 Luton Town football fans into a fight with Newport County fans. Fans were heard chanting ‘EDL till I die.’ He was given a suspended 12-month prison sentence and banned from Luton football matches for 3 years.
2013 – Identity Fraud
‘Robinson’ was jailed for 10 months for travelling to the USA on his friend’s passport. He admitted the charge of possession of a false identity document with improper intention. The passport Robinson used was under the name of Andrew McMaster. Yaxley-Lennon has also used the name Wayne King in the past.
2014 – Mortgage Fraud
Yaxley-Lennon was sentenced to prison for 18 months for committing mortgage fraud with the crime dating back to 2009. After pleading guilty in November 2013 to committing £160,000 worth of mortgage fraud Robinson was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court.
2017 – Contempt of Court #1
He was given a 3 month suspended sentence after he admitted a contempt of court charge for attempting to photograph a juvenile defendant in a court case whilst having no right to do so. Court security had told Robinson not to film in and around the court as it would lead to his arrest.
2018 – Contempt of Court #2
‘Robinson’ was given a 13-month sentence for contempt of court. He was arrested after Facebook live streaming outside Leeds Crown Court for an hour despite there being reporting restrictions on the case. Because he had a suspended sentence for the same crime the judge sentenced Robinson to 13 months in prison. Robinson pleaded guilty but was later released on bail after winning an appeal.
