LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - British anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, went on trial on Monday accused of refusing to give police his phone PIN when stopped under counter-terrorism laws, and said billionaire Elon Musk was funding his defence.
Yaxley-Lennon, better known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson, has become a flag-bearer for some British nationalists and one of Britain’s most high-profile anti-migration campaigners, recently organising a large rally in London attended by about 150,000 people.
He said in a video posted on social media before his trial at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court that Musk, who often reposts his messages on X and appeared at the rally by videolink, had “picked up the legal bill for this absolute state persecution”.
Yaxley-Lennon, 42, was detained by police under counter-terrorism powers in July 2024 as he drove a silver Bentley through border security at the Channel Tunnel train terminal in southeast England, prosecutor Jo Morris said.
The officer involved said he had become suspicious because of the high-value vehicle, Yaxley-Lennon’s demeanour as he refused to maintain eye contact, and because he was on his own, and had said he was driving to Benidorm in southern Spain.
