Judge rules Tommy Robinson accused Huddersfield schoolboy of 'gang attack'

A libel case has been brought against the far-right polemicist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, following his response to a video of Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi being attacked at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield.

The video of the teenager, who was 16 at the time, went viral in November 2018 and provoked outrage.

In response to the viral video, Yaxley-Lennon posted two videos on his Facebook page claiming the teenager was "not innocent and he violently attacks young English girls in his school".

He also claimed Jamal "beat a girl black and blue" and "threatened to stab" another boy at his school, allegations Jamal "emphatically denies". The videos were streamed more than 850,000 times within 24 hours

Lawyers for Jamal's family claim Robinson's "racist invective" on Facebook led to the teenager and his family being targeted by "far-right activists" which forced him and his family to leave the area.

In a remote hearing this morning (Tuesday), Mr Justice Nicklin ruled over the meaning of Yaxley-Lennon's statements, saying that unless the matter was settled between the two parties then the case would be subject to a later libel trial.

The judge said: found that Robinson's statements meant that Jamal had "as part of a gang, participated in a violent assault on a young girl which had caused her significant injuries" and also "threatened to stab another child".

Mr Justice Nicklin rejected Jamal's contention that Robinson's statements would be understood to suggest that there were other "incidents of violence beyond the particular acts that were identified" in the two videos.

He said: "In my judgment, the viewer would recognise that the defendant was making a specific allegation of violent conduct against the claimant."

The judge added that the ordinary and reasonable viewer of the videos would understand Robinson to have been speaking "figuratively" when he said of Jamal that "he's not innocent, he attacks young girls".

But Mr Justice Nicklin also rejected Robinson's suggested meaning of the statements, that "as part of a gang, the claimant has committed serious acts of violence against a schoolgirl".

The judge ruled that Robinson's suggested meaning "fails to capture the gravity of the allegation being made against the claimant, specifically that (the girl) had been beaten 'black and blue' ... and ignores, completely, the allegation of a threat to stab the boy that is made clearly in the first video".

In his ruling, Mr Justice Nicklin stated: "It is important to note that the court is only dealing with the issue of meaning.

"The defendant has advanced a defence of truth. Unless the parties resolve the litigation, that issue (and others) will be determined at a later trial."