Tommy Robinson threatened to publish details about journalist’s family, court told

Read the original at The Guardian ↗
Cite

Quinn, B. (2026, October 20). Tommy Robinson threatened to publish details about journalist’s family, court told. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/oct/20/tommy-robinson-phoned-journalist-threat-publish-details-family-court

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Guardian · collected 2026-10-20 · by Ben Quinn

Quick Summary

In Southwark Crown Court, it was reported that far-right activist Tommy Robinson threatened to publish personal details about journalists Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber after their articles on him in the MailOnline. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, allegedly called Young threatening to expose his family’s information and made Dirnhuber feel compelled to move due to safety concerns. The court heard that these incidents occurred following a controversial article published by the MailOnline titled "Stoking race riots from his sunbed," which Robinson believed targeted him during his time in Cyprus.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-20, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is facing a five-day trial at Southwark Crown Court on charges of harassment causing fear of violence against two MailOnline journalists, Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber. Robinson denies the charges.

The prosecution alleges that after articles were published about his holiday in Cyprus following the Southport murders in July 2024, Robinson used "bully-boy tactics" to intimidate the journalists. This includes sharing photos of one journalist's family on social media and threatening to visit their homes. In a telephone call, Robinson allegedly told Young, "I’m coming to get you," causing fear for both reporters' safety.

The court heard that after his address was leaked online by an anonymous X account supporter of Robinson, Young received menacing calls from someone claiming to be the activist. Additionally, unknown individuals appeared outside Young's home and that of another journalist working with him, further escalating the perceived threat.

Journalists testified about their fears and concerns for themselves and their families as a result of these incidents. Jacob Dirnhuber stated in his testimony: "It made me scared to go out in public, it made me scared to go to my own house, it made me feel guilty about how it had affected my loved ones." The trial focuses on Robinson's reaction to the articles and his alleged use of intimidation tactics against the reporters. Robinson denies all charges.

Written for “Tommy Robinson Trial For Harassment” on 2026-10-20, grounded in this article and the 8 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans left (beta estimate) Confidence high 1 quote(s) discarded as not found in the article
Leaning: leans left for article 93661 (high confidence, 2 verified quotes) · logged 2026-10-20

Story

📰 Tommy Robinson Trial For Harassment
Politics · 9 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 20% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Tommy Robinson arrives at court ahead of harassment trial same event · 95%
Evening Standard · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 25% hedged 1 of 4 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles discuss Tommy Robinson's alleged harassment charges against MailOnline reporters through X posts, direct messages, and a telephone call in August 2024.”
Smiling Tommy Robinson arrives at London court to face trial over claims he harassed two journalists different event · 85%
Evening Standard · 0.85 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 17% hedged 1 of 6 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A describes Tommy Robinson's arrival at court for his trial, while Article B details threats allegedly made during the harassment period before the trial.”
Tommy Robinson used ‘bullyboy, intimidatory tactics’ to threaten journalists, court told different event · 75%
The Guardian · 0.95 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 23% hedged 5 of 22 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles describe Tommy Robinson's trial for harassing journalists, they refer to different aspects or incidents of alleged harassment during the same broader court proceedings.”
Tommy Robinson used ‘bully-boy tactics’ to frighten journalists, court told different event · 75%
Evening Standard · 0.92 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 15% hedged 3 of 20 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles describe different aspects of Tommy Robinson's legal proceedings related to alleged harassment but do not clearly indicate they are reporting on the exact same incident at the same time.”
Tommy Robinson used ‘bully-boy tactics’ to frighten journalists, court told different event · 70%
Evening Standard · 0.92 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 11% hedged 4 of 37 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss Tommy Robinson's harassment charges against journalists, they describe different methods of harassment (social media threats vs. telephone threats) over distinct periods, suggesting separate incidents.”
Tommy Robinson used 'bully-boy' tactics to harass two Daily Mail journalists, court hears different event · 70%
Daily Mail · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 14% hedged 6 of 44 📰 publisher trust 64
“While both articles describe threats made by Tommy Robinson against Daily Mail journalists, Article A focuses on sending photographers to the journalists' homes and circulating photos of their residences, while Article B describes a specific threat over the phone involving publishing family details. These appear to be different incidents within the same broader harassment case.”
Judge tells prospective jurors to ‘put aside views’ ahead of Robinson trial different event · 50%
Evening Standard
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 50% hedged 3 of 6 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A discusses a judge's instructions to prospective jurors in Tommy Robinson's trial for harassment, while Article B reports on alleged threats made by Robinson during a telephone call with journalists. Although both articles relate to the same individual and charges, they describe different specific incidents.”
Robinson shared photos of reporter's family, court told different event · 50%
BBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 20 📰 publisher trust 69
“The events described are similar but not identical, as Article A reports threats over a phone call and Article B describes sharing photos online.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
20%
4 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
9
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-20 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Ben Quinn
6 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 The far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson threatened to publish details about a journalist’s family and warned him that they would have to move home, a court has been told.
2026-10-20 · assertive framing · Tommy Robinson threatened to publish details about journalist’s family, court told
🔮 Robinson is accused of harassment causing fear of violence through X posts and direct messages, and an alleged telephone call on 5 August 2024 in which he is accused of telling Young he would visit his house, saying: “I’m coming to get you.”
2026-10-19 · mixed framing · Tommy Robinson used ‘bullyboy, intimidatory tactics’ to threaten journalists, court told
🔮 The alleged offences took place between 26 November 2024 and 21 May last year.
2026-10-08 · mixed framing · Royal Navy serviceman arrested under National Security Act
🔮 The Metropolitan police described the move as a “milestone” moment that paved the way for what it said would be “the very best possible evidence for charging decisions”.
2026-09-30 · assertive framing · Grenfell fire police investigators hand files on 20 firms and 54 people to CPS
🔮 The men – three residents of Westminster and two others from Camden and Willesden, all London boroughs – have since been released on bail while the police investigate “multiple lines of inquiry”.
2026-09-28 · assertive framing · Nandy labels Farage ‘master of conspiracy theory’ over Fairford claims
Also by Ben Quinn
Tommy Robinson used ‘bullyboy, intimidatory tactics’ to threaten journalists, court told
2026-10-19 · The Guardian
‘English nationalist’ content creators film themselves in asylum seekers’ house
2026-10-14 · The Guardian
Royal Navy serviceman arrested under National Security Act
2026-10-08 · The Guardian
Grenfell fire police investigators hand files on 20 firms and 54 people to CPS
2026-09-30 · The Guardian
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 6 articles by Ben Quinn →

Topics

Cyprus Mail MailOnline Southport Southwark

Subjects

Robinson PERSON · 10× Young PERSON · 7× Cyprus GPE · 4× Tommy Robinson PERSON · 4× Mail ORG · 3× Dirnhuber PERSON · 2× Jacob Dirnhuber PERSON · 2× MailOnline ORG · 1× Southport GPE · 1× Stephen Yaxley-Lennon PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The freelance journalist, who was working for the Mail, said in a witness statement read out by a prosecutor that he was still in Cyprus on 5 August 2024 when he became aware that his home address had been posted on X by an anonymous account, along with the words “please be sure to congratulate him”. “This made me very concerned that my address had been put on X by a Tommy Robinson supporter,” Young said.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-20
🔮 The far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson threatened to publish details about a journalist’s family and warned him that they would have to move home, a court has been told.
2026-10-20 · The Guardian
Tommy Robinson threatened to publish details about journalist’s family, court told · assertive framing

Claims (20 extracted, 4 hedged)

The far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson threatened to publish details about a journalist’s family and warned him that they would have to move home, a court has been told. asserted
court → know → him
The alleged threats were said to have been made in a telephone call by Robinson to one of a number of journalists involved in reporting on his activities after the 2024 Southport killings, when he was accused of influencing the subsequent riots. asserted
he → allege → riots
Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is charged with two counts of harassment causing fear of violence to two MailOnline journalists, Andrew Young and Jacob Dirnhuber, in 2024. asserted
name → charge → 2024
He denies the charges. asserted
He → deny → charges
A recording of Young responding to Robinson’s call after the journalist had tracked him down to Cyprus was played to Southwark crown court, which also heard that Young’s address had been published online by an anonymous X account. asserted
address → respond → account
The court also heard that unknown men started appearing outside Young’s home and that of another journalist working with him. “My main concern was that while he may not physically harm me, he had 800,000 followers on X at the time who might have been tempted to seek revenge on me or my home or my family for what I had written,” Young said in a statement read out in court. uncertain
Young → hear → court
Robinson, who attended court with a large number of supporters, was said to have become enraged after the Mail published a story about him with the headline: Stoking race riots from his sunbed. asserted
Mail → attend → sunbed
Jacob Dirnhuber, another of the journalists Robinson allegedly tried to intimidate, said it was the Mail’s view that Robinson was working, with tweeting being part of his day job and how he made money, and so they felt they could legitimately report on his activity in Cyprus. uncertain
they → try → Cyprus
They did not publish any identifiable images of his children. asserted
They → publish → children
Dirnhuber, his partner and their dog had to leave their home address after Robinson tweeted images of the journalist online and allegedly messaged him photographs of an unknown woman, the court was told. uncertain
court → have → woman
Dirnhuber said in his witness statement that he felt he would be “looking over my shoulder for a long time”, adding: “I have the knowledge that Tommy Robinson knows my address and my last name is very identifiable. asserted
name → say → address
The alleged harassment may have had an “adverse impact” on his “willingness” to cover certain stories, he added. uncertain
he → allege → stories
Young said he worried someone would come to his home address after it was leaked on social media platform X by what appeared to be a Robinson supporter, jurors heard. asserted
jurors → say → X
The freelance journalist, who was working for the Mail, said in a witness statement read out by a prosecutor that he was still in Cyprus on 5 August 2024 when he became aware that his home address had been posted on X by an anonymous account, along with the words “please be sure to congratulate him”. “This made me very concerned that my address had been put on X by a Tommy Robinson supporter,” Young said. asserted
Young → work → supporter
He later received a call from a man introducing himself as Tommy Robinson, who became “increasingly menacing, swearing and shouting”. asserted
who → receive → Robinson
Young said his daughter was out walking several days after the article about Robinson in Cyprus was published and heard two men in a car shout at her. asserted
men → say → her
She believed they also took a picture of her. asserted
they → believe → her
The trial opened on Monday, with prosecutor Ben Holt saying the case was about Robinson’s reaction to what he perceived to be “an unnecessary intrusion into his holiday”. asserted
he → open → holiday
Journalists and their family members had to flee their homes after “bullyboy, intimidatory tactics” were deployed against them, Holt said. asserted
Holt → have → them
The hearing continues. asserted
hearing → continue → ?
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