Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (born 1983), also known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, is the founder, spokesman and leader of the far-right anti-Islamist EDL street protest movement. He emerged as the leader of the EDL in 2009.
Contents |
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon was born in Luton to Irish parents.[1] Lennon married in 2011 and is the father of three children.[2] His family is under 24-hour police protection due to "Muslim extremists" allegedly threatening to behead his family, and he wears protection when appearing in public.[3][4] Lennon is the owner of a sunbed shop in Luton.[4]
Around the year 2001, he was active in the local hooligan scene. He then appeared under the pseudonym Tommy Robinson.[5] The alias Tommy Robinson comes from the leader of the Luton Town "Men In Gear" (MIG) football hooligan crew, an author of two books in 2006 and 2007 giving an inside perspective of his own life and those around him.[6] Lennon was involved in the group United Peoples of Luton, formed in response to a March 2008 protest against Royal Anglian Regiment troops returning from the Afghan War[7] organised by the Islamist group Al-Muhajiroun and including members of the group Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah.[8] in 2008.[9] In August 2009, he became the leading figure of the newly established English Defence League, after emerging victorious from a factional dispute. He appeared masked in public at first, until the Sunday Mercury newspaper managed to photograph his face in April 2010.[10]
| Part of a series on |
| Criticism of Islam |
|---|
| Issues |
| Antisemitism · Domestic violence · Islam · Muhammad · Quran |
| People |
| Irshad Manji · Ayaan Hirsi Ali · Maryam Namazie · Tarek Fatah · Daniel Pipes · Ibn Warraq · Geert Wilders · Oriana Fallaci · Pamela Geller · Robert Spencer · Theo van Gogh · Afshin Ellian · Salman Rushdie · Turan Dursun · Wafa Sultan · Magdi Allam · Anwar Shaikh · Walid Shoebat · Taslima Nasrin · Mark A. Gabriel · Brigitte Gabriel · Christopher Hitchens · Pat Condell · Nonie Darwish · Mosab Hassan Yousef · Bruce Bawer · Bat Ye'or · Necla Kelek · Debbie Schlussel · Srđa Trifković · Pastor Terry Jones · Fjordman · Pim Fortuyn · Efraim Karsh · Ehsan Jami · David Wood · Martin Bosma · Tommy Robinson |
Searchlight identified Tommy Robinson as Lennon, and claimed that he served a twelve months prison sentence for assaulting an off-duty police officer who intervened to stop a domestic incident between Yaxley-Lennon and his partner Jenna Vowles.[10] He was convicted on 18 April 2005 for assault occasioning actual bodily harm and assault with intent to resist arrest while his partner was cautioned for possession of cocaine.[11]
In November 2010 he was charged with assaulting a police officer after confronting a poppy burning by Islamists by jumping over a barrier, but this charge was later dropped.[12] In July 2011 he was convicted of 'using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour' while leading a group of Luton Town supporters in a fight against Newport County fans.[13]
Lennon was arrested after an EDL demonstration in Tower Hamlets on 3 September 2011 for breach of bail conditions, as he had been banned from attending the demonstration. After his arrest, Lennon began a hunger strike in custody in Bedford Prison, claiming to be a "political prisoner of the state",[14] and refused to eat halal meat.[15] A local paper however reported that Bedford Prison sources had claimed that "his hunger strike only lasted 24 hours and then he gave up".[16] Dozens of EDL supporters protested outside the prison in support of Lennon during his incarceration, peaking in a turnout of 100 protesters on 10 September.[17][18][19] Lennon was released from prison on 12 September.[20]
On 29 September 2011 he was convicted of common assault after headbutting a fellow EDL member at a rally in Blackburn in April that year. The judge stated that a custodial sentence could not be ruled out.[21]
On 8 November 2011, Tommy Robinson held a protest against the ban on wearing a poppy for the England team on the rooftop of the FIFA building in Zurich. As a result, he was fined £3000 and jailed for three days.[22]
According to Robinson he was assaulted on 22 December after pulling over his car as another car flashed its lights at him. He claimed that a group of three men attacked and beat him, being stopped due to the arrival of a 'good samaritan'. Robinson said that the attackers were of Asian appearance. A CT scan revealed a blemish to the brain.[23]