A Tommy Robinson supporter spat in the face of a four-year-old Muslim girl as she queued with her mother in a chain of Greggs.

The man also chanted the English Defence League founder’s name in the child’s face and made an obscene gesture at the pair when they saw each other again on the street.

It is believed he targeted the little girl due to her ethnicity and because her mother was wearing a hijab.

A Tommy Robinson supporter spat in the face of a four-year-old girl (Picture: Rex)

A family member then reached out to charity Tell MAMA and agreed to have the incident, which occurred just after 1pm on October 29, reported to police.




She described how the man had approached the pair as they queued in Gregg’s and began chanting ‘Tommy Robinson’ at the girl.

Almost 10,000 people contracting coronavirus every day, says Matt Hancock

The mother said she heard the spitting noise but was unaware of what had happened until turning and seeing the ‘sheer hatred’ of his expression.

After leaving the shop, she spotted the man again and he made an obscene hand gesture at the pair in public.

The family said they reported the incident to West Midlands Police but were concerned that the call handler did not know who Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was.

The man chanted the former EDL leader’s name in her face (Picture: Rex Features)

The child’s mother was wearing a hijab (Picture: Rex)

‘Tell MAMA has long documented the disproportionate abuse and violence directed at Muslim women who wear Islamic clothing, by perpetrators often identified as being white males,’ Tell MAMA said in a statement.

‘[This] attack, however, is even more shocking, given that an adult male felt emboldened enough to not only attack a child but also to intimidate the family by invoking the name of Mr Robinson in such a public setting without challenge.’

Student loses uni place after ‘posh lads competition to have sex with poorest girl'

Just three days ago, 50 MPs wrote a letter to the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging him to maintain their ban on Robinson entering the country.

They warned that the far-right campaigner would use any visit to ‘promote his violent and extremist agenda’ and could raise around 1.4 million US dollars (£1.1 million) through speaking appearances if the ban was waived.

‘We hope you agree that it would send a terrible signal if a convicted felon deemed inadmissible to the United States, such as Yaxley-Lennon, were allowed to travel to your country and speak before a prominent audience despite his conviction for previously entering the United States illegally,’ it stated.

‘Clearly the gravity of his criminal serious record, his brazen violation of US immigration law and the threat he poses to the American public will ensure that he isn’t granted admission to the US.’

Robinson is currently barred from the US after attempting to enter the country using a friend’s passport in 2012, having been blocked from travelling because of ‘multiple criminal convictions, including several for violent conduct and assault as well as mortgage fraud’.

Got a story for Metro.co.uk? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. For more stories like this, check our news page.