Staff Reporter
FAR-RIGHT activist Tommy Robinson has skipped bail and fled the United Kingdom with a warrant now out for his arrest.
The anti-immigrant extremist has long had his run-ins with the UK justice system, having been sent to prison on four separate occasions.
But his latest attempt to escape the long arm of the law has seen a warrant out for him, delayed until October to give him a chance to show up for court voluntarily.
He was arrested and released on bail on Sunday after he breached a court order not to repeat lies about a Syrian refugee.
He also skipped out on a court hearing that was to be held this week over ‘flagrant’ contempt of court charges for the same offence.
He was last seen escaping the United Kingdom at the Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone using his Irish passport.
So where might Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – be hiding out?
Yaxley-Lennon, 41, has long sought refuge in the sunny climes of Iberia, often seen associating with the less savoury elements of British expat society in the Costa Blanca and the Algarve.
In these hotspots Yaxley-Lennon – who declared himself bankrupt in 2021 – often enjoys the hospitality of an extended network of far-right sympathisers and part-time gangsters.
He has also popped up in Tenerife from time to time, where he has been seen hanging out with self-declared German nazis and attending football matches.
Costa Blanca
As the Olive Press revealed last year, Yaxley-Lennon was given access to villas owned by British fashion tycoon billionaire Phillip Day in L’Albir, just up the road from Benidorm.
While Day himself denied all knowledge that this was going on, it is suspected that someone close to the billionaire was secretly letting Yaxley-Lennon in.
The Luton local spent most of last summer taking topless hikes in the surrounding hills, hitting the gym and enjoying the local bars.
He spent the summer trying to produce a podcast interviewing British and American extremists, who he was seen socialising with at ice-cream parlours and on the beach front.
However, although he could reach Benidorm easily enough by train, he is less likely to do so after his association with Day was revealed.
Day’s representative told the Olive Press Yaxley-Lennon’s access was shut off and an investigation into how he got in had been opened.
Tenerife
Yaxley-Lennon, who founded the English Defence League in 2009, spent last Christmas in Tenerife with Lutz Bachmann, 50.
Bachmann is the founder of German Islamophobic outfit Pegida (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident).
He has previously been snapped dressed as Adolf Hitler, convicted of racial incitement in 2016 for referring to refugees as ‘cattle,’ ‘scum,’ and ‘filth’, and spreading Covid misinformation during the pandemic.
The German, who was blocked from entering the UK and deported in 2018 on the ground that his presence was ‘not conducive to the public good’, also appeared on Robinson’s podcast.
Yaxley-Lennon has further friends in Tenerife, one being the bar owner Danny Salmon, who lives in Adeje.
He’s been spotted at Duke Gym just up the road from the popular Playa de las Americas resort.
But difficulties for the wanted man in reaching Tenerife without going through an airport and being flagged to authorities make it unlikely he would seek refuge here.
The Algarve
When not in Spain, Yaxley-Lennon likes to nip over to Portugal, where he has recently been holidaying with his family.
Video emerged in May of the convicted fraudster starting a fight with a man who had been filming him at a very expensive golf resort in the Algarve.
He threatened the man, shouting: “I’ll knock you spark out you little p****.”
He added: “I’m with my kids, so who the f*** do you think you are?”
He was reportedly at the exclusive Quinta do Lago Campus in the Vale do Lobo Golf and Beach Resort for a three week holiday.
Yaxley-Lennon has three children and an ex-wife he divorced as bankruptcy loomed in 2021, although it was not confirmed if they were there.
He has also been spotted in Irish bars in Vilamoura marina.
Another candidate location for the agitator to be hiding out include Marbella, where he was living in 2020.
He uploaded a video of him informing his followers of his move to the Costa del Sol from the Manolo Santana Racquets club.
The tennis and padel club is situated in the upmarket area of Istan, within the municipality of Marbella.
