Journalists felt at risk of attack from Tommy Robinson supporters, court told

A Daily Mail editor was left “scared to go to my own house”, and a reporter felt his family was under threat after alleged harassment by Tommy Robinson, a court heard.

Jacob Dirnhuber and Andrew Young’s witness statements were read to Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday, with both detailing how they feared violence following contact with the political activist in August 2024.

Mr Dirnhuber, an editor at the Daily Mail and MailOnline, said he feared being “intercepted” by a supporter of Robinson on his way to work, who may have been “hoping to cause me or my partner physical harm”.

Freelance journalist Andrew Young also said he feared the defendant’s followers would “seek revenge on me” following stories published about him being in Cyprus during unrest across the country after three girls were murdered in Southport.

The court previously heard Robinson used “bully-boy, intimidatory tactics” to frighten the journalists with a series of posts and direct messages on social media platform X.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and who founded the English Defence League, entered not guilty pleas to two charges of harassment causing fear of violence in July last year.

He is accused of harassing the journalists through X posts and direct messages, and an alleged telephone call on August 5 2024, in which he is accused of telling Mr Young he would visit his house, saying: “I’m coming to get you.”

One of the direct messages Robinson is accused of sending Mr Dirnhuber on X on the same day allegedly said: “I’ll be knocking at your door.”

Prosecutor Ben Holt read out Mr Dirnhuber’s statement to the court first, which said: “I have been a journalist for about 10 years and during all that time nothing quite like this has ever happened to me.

“To the best of my knowledge, I have never been tracked down to a specific address, whilst I have received abuse online I have never before felt physically threatened as a consequence or seen my work have a significant adverse impact on those close to me.

“It made me for a period scared to go out in public, it made me scared to go to my own house, it made me feel immensely guilty as to how it affected my loved ones and has caused stress in my personal relationships.

“Even now every time I step out of my front door I am aware that there is a risk of a vigilante attack.”

Mr Dirnhuber said the Daily Mail felt that “we could legitimately report on his activity” while he was in Cyprus, but the newspaper did not publish identifiable images of his children.

Addressing how the posts about him on X had affected him, Mr Dirnhuber said: “As I did not know either where Robinson had obtained my address or who he had shared it with, I was concerned about the risk of being intercepted on my way to work, either by Robinson for a live-streamed interview or by an unpredictable supporter… hoping to cause me or my partner physical harm.”

The journalist continued: “After Robinson tweeted the picture of me, my partner and I decided to leave our home address and take up the Mail’s offer to stay at their expense in a hotel with our dog until the necessary security arrangements had been put in place.

“During this period, we made one visit to my home address – which was to let the Daily Mail’s security contractor in to install a doorbell camera and assess the feasibility of installing a panic alarm.

“After this was done we moved from the hotel to a different location outside of London.”

Mr Young spoke of how Robinson became “increasingly menacing” after he called his personal number.

His statement read: “I told him repeatedly that I didn’t want to engage with him and he should direct any matters to the Daily Mail legal department.

“His tone became increasingly menacing raising his voice, swearing and shouting.

“I kept telling him the same thing which only seemed to make him more angry.

“He told me that he had been researching my family and threatened to ‘doxx’ them by publishing pictures of them online and kept screaming at me, ‘did I think that would be fair?’.

“I told him several times that I regarded what he was saying as threatening behaviour and that I would be reporting it.

“At one point he said that I had brought it on myself implying that he would be ‘doxxing’ my family.

“He said that he would be coming round to my house to see me and that I would have to move house.

“When I asked why that would be necessary, referring to the moving house comment, he wouldn’t elaborate.

“He said he would be shoving a camera in my face and asking questions. I believe he said the words ‘I’m coming to get you’.”

Mr Young’s statement went on to point to the significant number of followers Robinson had on social media and that he feared violence from his supporters.

The freelance journalist added: “I was worried and concerned, I felt that my family was under threat and I was fearful of what might happen next.

“It was clear to me that Tommy Robinson was following through on his threats.

“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.”

The trial, expected to last five days, continues.