Fun Day Out For Law Students: Tommy Robinson’s trial at Old Bailey sees hundreds turn up to protest, the court hearing has been adjourned, and there will now be a ‘substantive hearing’ held by an independent hearings panel to see if there is evidence for this case to proceed, is this the establishment using their ‘get out of jail’ free card, because this case is a loser!

Dear All

If you have been following the Tommy Robinson case, you might have found something very interesting from a legal standpoint; can a person who committed no offence be jailed? The answer to this question is yes, but there are other questions which then pop up such as was the hearing that jailed Tommy Robinson fair?

The answer to that question is no!

The Robinson case shines a spotlight on British justice, and whether people accused of contempt of court should get a jury trial. If there had been a jury trial in the Leeds case against Robinson, he would have been freed. The reason is that information already in the public domain isn’t subject to reporting restrictions. This means no matter where a person is, what he is using to communicate such information, this is part of his right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression.

The case against Tommy Robinson is bogus, and no matter how the prosecution try to spice it up, it is a loser, to attempt to have a second bite of the cherry is not in the public interest and a sheer waste of police and the court’s time. If it was me at the Prosecution Service, I would opt to bin this case, because going into court with nothing makes you look a fool.

Today was supposed to be D-Day for Tommy Robinson down at the Old Bailey, since this was a show trial, everyone turned up, including a sizeable number of protesters, a small number of counter protesters and the media.

Everyone was all revved up to go!

Except the judge who looking at this shambles, deciding that a spot of long grass was called for and promptly adjourned the trial, why get upset with the weekend coming up? Plus, why damage your own credibility on the bench trying to clean up someone’s else’s mistake The judge adjourned this case to determine whether there will be a substantive hearing at the Old Bailey into the alleged contempt of court. A substantive hearing is apparently conducted by two lay members and one professional member of the independent hearings panel, plus one legal adviser.

So, judging by what is in the public domain about what happened, I would suggest that independent hearings panel might be the ‘out’ that is needed to get this mess done and dusted as an issue, and dropped like a hot brick. In this case, leave out the aftermath, leave out the protesters, the marches and concentrate on the issue.

In that case, the evidence points to Tommy Robinson having not broken the law.

As to the counter protesters turning up at the Old Bailey, this is just a hate mob, becaue of who Tommy Robinson is and what he represents. They clearly aren’t interested in justice, and this case is an important one to watch, however they appear not to be concerned with the evidence. If being jailed while being innocent can happen to Robinson, it can happen to them.

Clearly that thought never crossed their minds!

One thing that the media has done is to continually call Tommy Robinson as a far right activist, his real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon who cofounded the EDL but left when he said that extremists had joined the group. He is now an independent reporter, personality of sorts and a TV pundit, but he is still to many Tommy Robinson. In politics, you get people allegedly who stand for ‘injustice’, but in this fundamental case, the political parties remained silent. The press remained pro jail, both the printed press and TV, even getting a stooge on to say publicly what happened to Tommy Robinson was okay, it wasn’t as we all know.

Speaking to reporters outside court after the adjourned hearing, Robinson said:

"I believe they want me in prison for Christmas”.

He added:

"The law's supposed to be blind, but it's not supposed to be deaf and dumb. I'm being specifically targeted for who I am. I want closure. I believe they are purposely not giving me closure”.

The bigger picture of today’s hearing I would say is this, the fact this has been sent to an independent hearings panel is in itself an acknowledgment that this case is a loser, and everyone knows it is a loser. What the independent hearings panel is, is a ‘get out of jail free’ card for the Establishment, which they should grasp with both hands.

As much as certain people would like to see Tommy Robinson back in prison, you have to have evidence, this case is devoid of it entirely, and makes a mockery of the justice system. Not liking someone isn’t a reason to conduct a witch hunt against them, deny them rights and certainly not cause to deny them due process, and a fair trial.

Finally, this bit caught my eye; Tommy Robinson is alleged to have committed contempt of court by filming people in a criminal trial and broadcasting footage on social media.

This reads like he ‘filmed in the court’, is this just lazy writing by the press or attempting to portray the establishment version of things?

Also anyone has the right to film in public, this is entirely legal and tested many times, youtube is full of videos on this subject. What the court can do is ban anything being reported 'in it' concerning the case, not something already known.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University