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10th Jun 2022

Tommy Robinson spent £100k on gambling while pocketing thousands a month from supporters

Steve Hopkins

Robinson told the court he wasted money on gambling, alcohol, and partying and that his life was a ‘total mess’

Tommy Robinson has revealed he wasted £100,000 on gambling while pocketing thousands of pounds a month in donations from supporters.

The founder of the English Defence League, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, made the comment at the Royal Courts of Justice where he was giving evidence after losing a libel case about his outstanding debts.

The 39-year-old was ordered to pay damages to Syrian teenager Jamal Hijazi after defaming him online. After the teen was attacked at Almondbury School in Huddersfield, Robinson posted two videos on Facebook claiming Hijazi was “not innocent and he violently attacks young English girls in his school”.

In July last year, Robinson was ordered to pay Hijazi £100,000. Months earlier Robinson had declared himself bankrupt.

Appearing in court this week to discuss the money he owes, Robinson revealed he had spent £100,000 on gambling in casinos and online and had wasted money on “drink, alcohol, partying” while receiving thousands of pounds in donations from supporters.

In 2020, Robinson told the court, he received about £1,000 a month from supporters, but at times the figure was as high as £4,000.

According to a report by the BBC, Robinson was asked about a £323,000 debt he owed Bedfordshire businessman Christopher Johnson.

He told the court that Johnson had “a lot of cash” and it “wasn’t realistic” that he could pay him back.

Speaking about the lead-up to his March 2021 bankruptcy, Robinson said he was a “total mess” and had “suffered a total mental breakdown for two or three years”, the broadcaster reported.

“I owe loads of money. Can’t get out of it,” Robinson told the court, adding that at times he was “sofa surfing” between seven different addresses.

Robinson told the court he was not currently living in the UK and only returned when he was working.

Asked about a claim in his 2009 book Enemy of the State that he owned seven properties, but six of them were in his wife’s name, he said: “I like to give off that I am a successful man when I am not.”

The current hearing was called to discuss the £43,293 Robinson owed from a court order made in December 2020. Since then he has been ordered to pay £100,000 in damages to Hijazi and further significant legal costs.

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