Political activist Tommy Robinson has been convicted of harassing two Daily Mail journalists.
A jury at Southwark Crown Court found the 43-year-old, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, guilty of two counts of harassment causing fear of violence.
The case concerned Robinson’s response to Daily Mail and Mail Online articles from August 2024, showing him on holiday in Cyprus while riots took place in England following the Southport murders.
The court had heard how Robinson, from Bedfordshire, used “bully-boy, intimidatory tactics” to frighten reporters Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber, forcing them to employ security or leave home.
Robinson had denied the charges, saying he had “panicked” and had been “scared” when the Daily Mail published a story accusing him of “stoking race riots from his sunbed”.
He told the jury he felt the article had “endangered” his family by revealing they were staying in a hotel near Ayia Napa in Cyprus.
After the guilty verdicts, Frank Ferguson, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, said Robinson had “weaponised social media and subjected two journalists to a campaign of harassment which caused them serious fear of violence”.
Robinson was granted bail ahead of his sentencing, scheduled for 16 December.
Harassment causing fear of violence can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, or up to 14 years if the offence is racially or religiously aggravated.