Tommy Robinson “knew full well” what he was doing when he identified an alleged grooming gang while broadcasting live on Facebook from outside a criminal trial, a court heard.

Appearing at the Old Bailey under his real name, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 36, is accused of contempt of court for breaking a reporting ban imposed to safeguard justice for a series of linked child sex trials.

The founder of the far-right English Defence League was said to have been “subjectively reckless” by failing to establish whether reporting orders had been imposed on the case at Leeds Crown Court last year.

His hour-long video which showed defendants arriving was seen live by 10,000 followers before notching up 250,000 views in the following three days.

Andrew Caldecott, QC, for the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC who is bringing the case, said: “In 2017, 29 individuals of Asian background were charged with serious offences involving the sexual exploitation of young girls in Huddersfield.

“The primary case is that Mr Yaxley-Lennon knew full well that there was a reporting restriction order in the case.

“He was at court and could have ascertained its terms with ease, either on the day or earlier, and it was a wholly irresponsible risk to speculate what the terms were or might be.”