Police are assessing claims that videos posted on social media accounts belonging to the former EDL leader Tommy Robinson risked collapsing the trial of the Finsbury Park terrorist, Darren Osborne.

Two live broadcasts appeared on Robinson’s Facebook page during the trial at Woolwich crown court, which heard Osborne had been an avid reader of material posted online by Robinson in the weeks before he attacked members of the Muslim community last June.

Should the matter be referred to the attorney general’s office and lead to a conviction, the publisher of the videos could face up to two years in prison for breaching contempt of court laws, which are designed to ensure fair trials.

The footage showed Robinson being interviewed by BBC and Sky News journalists. The discussions were recorded during the trial but were only to be broadcast if and when Osborne was convicted, in order to ensure his right to a fair trial was respected.

However, it is understood that the interviews were broadcast live on Robinson’s Facebook page without the journalists’ knowledge. The footage also appeared on other social media platforms afterwards.

Scotland Yard confirmed on Tuesday that its detectives were examining whether or not the release of the material may have risked prejudicing the trial, which could have caused it to be abandoned. “The matter has been referred to us and is currently being assessed. It would be inappropriate to discuss further at this stage,” a spokeswoman said.



Juries are expected to decide their verdicts based only on the evidence put before them in court, rather than on any other content published elsewhere. Public discussion of an ongoing case, beyond contemporaneous reports of the evidence, risks swaying jurors and making a fair trial impossible.

The attorney general’s office said: “We have received information related to allegations of contempt of court in the case of Darren Osborne and are considering them. We will consider all referrals of evidence related to this case.”



A spokeswoman said the office could act on referrals from the police or members of the public, though none had yet been made in respect of the videos posted on Robinson’s accounts.

Neither Sky News nor the BBC broadcast footage of the interviews with Robinson during the trial.

Last May Robinson was handed a three-month sentence, suspended for 18 months, for trying to film four men who were on trial for raping a girl. In the footage, which was broadcast while the trial was still going on, Robinson referred to the men as paedophiles.

He was convicted under the Criminal Justice Act 1925, which prohibits taking or publishing pictures of people involved in trials, rather than under the Contempt of Court Act, which would be more likely to cover the publication of the videos.

Sentencing him at Canterbury crown court, the judge Heather Norton told Robinson: “This is not about freedom of speech or freedom of the press. This is not about legitimate journalism or political correctness. It’s about justice and ensuring that a trial can be carried out justly and fairly, and ensuring that a jury is not in any way inhibited in carrying out its important function.”

Robinson has been approached for comment. In a video posted on his Facebook page, he said he had posted the footage of the BBC and Sky interviews to “expose their agenda and their narrative” and added: “What they’re trying to say is that I’m supposed to keep my mouth shut... I’m not meant to come out fighting to try and argue and clear my name.”