Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known by as Tommy Robinson, has dropped his appeal against a contempt of court ruling.

Yaxley-Lennon served 10 weeks in prison after being found guilty of breaching a reporting restriction order on a case being heard at Leeds Crown Court in 2018. He was released in September.

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While Yaxley-Lennon was in Belmarsh, he instructed solicitors to start an appeal against the contempt of court conviction – claiming (as usual) that he had done nothing wrong and was the subject of an establishment stitch-up.

In August, he wrote a letter from the prison to his followers. He said he would be appealing the decision, and that costs for the appeal would be £84,000. He asked for his fans to donate to the appeal, saying: “help me fight the establishment! It’s death, prison or glory.”

He also suggested one of the judges who found him guilty of contempt had “dirty hands on this case”.

However, now that he’s facing another expensive court case, Yaxley-Lennon has decided to rapidly shelve this appeal.

Yaxley-Lennon is currently facing a libel action in the High Court for damages of £100,000 from the Syrian schoolboy Jamal Hijazi.

Hijazi alleges Yaxley-Lennon “peddled false and defamatory lies” about him, after video footage of him being assaulted and bullied at his school went viral.

The total potential costs of the libel case are £650,000. Yaxley-Lennon claims the money donated for the contempt of court appeal has been “kept in a pot” and will be transferred to use on his libel case.

Want to help stop Yaxley-Lennon from crowdfunding thousands of pounds to use on spurious court cases and his over-indulgent expenses? Join our campaign to de-platform the far-right figure.

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