Tommy Robinson to be released from prison early

The far-right anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, is due to be released from prison four months early.

His 18-month sentence for contempt of court was reduced after a hearing at the High Court on Tuesday.

Yaxley-Lennon was jailed last October because he ignored an order not to repeat false allegations about a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for libel.

His lawyers told the court he had since shown a "commitment" to comply with the order. Mr Justice Johnson granted the application to have the sentence reduced because Yaxley-Lennon had shown a "change in attitude" since he was sentenced.

The 42-year-old is due to be released from prison within the next week, the judge said.

The judge noted there was an "absence of contrition or remorse" from Yaxley-Lennon, but added: "He has given an assurance that he will comply with the injunction in the future, that he has no intention of breaching it again, and that he is aware of the consequences of what would happen if he breached the injunction again."

The sentence handed down to Yaxley-Lennon in October was made up of two elements. The first was a 14-month "punitive" element, while the second was a four-month "coercive" element.

At the time, Mr Justice Johnson said that the four-month "coercive" element could be removed from his sentence if he took steps to comply with the order that barred him from repeating lies about the Syrian refugee.

This week, the High Court accepted Yaxley-Lennon had tried to comply with the order.

The judge said "the practical effect" of this "is that the defendant will be released once he has completed the punitive element, which I understand will be within the next week."

He was originally due to be released from prison on 26 July.

Yaxley-Lennon attended the hearing via video-link from HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes. He showed no immediate reaction once the judgment was handed down.

The former leader of the now-defunct English Defence League had wrongly claimed in a viral video that a Syrian teenager was a violent thug.

The teenager successfully sued him for libel for these claims. In 2021, an injunction was made that barred Yaxley-Lennon from repeating the false allegations.

He was jailed last year for 10 admitted breaches of the injunction after the Solicitor General issued two contempt claims against him.

After being jailed, Yaxley-Lennon lost a bid to bring a legal challenge against the Ministry of Justice over his segregation from other prisoners at the jail in March.

He subsequently lost a challenge to his sentence at the Court of Appeal in April. However, three senior judges said he could "still reduce the period he has to spend in custody by taking the steps identified" by the judge.

Among the steps identified by the judge was that Yaxley-Lennon should remove social media posts that repeated the libellous claim about the Syrian national.

Yaxley-Lennon's lawyer Alex Di Francesco told the court on Tuesday that these steps had been followed.

"The defendant has demonstrated that commitment that Your Lordship required, both in his words and his actions," he said.

He continued: "Each admitted breach capable of being purged has been acted upon and has been entirely resulted in removal."

Adam Payter, for the Solicitor General, said that a review had been carried out to assess whether the injunction had been complied with.

He told the court that following the review, the Solicitor General "agrees that the material has been removed from all bar two of the online locations".