LONDON: Anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson has told the UK High Court how he frittered ?100,000 ($124,353) on a gambling binge after receiving a ?600,000 libel bill for losing a case brought by a teenager over a bullying video.
The English Defence League founder, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was successfully sued by Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi last year after a video of the then 15-year-old student being assaulted at his school in the north of England went viral.
Robinson declared bankruptcy four months on from being ordered to pay Hijazi ?100,000 in compensation and legal costs, which jumped from ?43,293 in 2020 to an estimated ?500,000 after Robinson failed to pay and Hijazi’s lawyers successfully applied for an order requiring him to return to court and answer questions about his finances.
However, claiming he lacks the funds to meet the payment, Robinson yesterday told the court how he sold a property before using the proceeds for gambling, while also claiming that he owed a similar amount to HM Revenue and Customs.
Asked about a claim in his 2009 book “Enemy of the State” in which he said he owned seven houses, but that six were in his wife’s name, Robinson said this was untrue, telling the court: “I like to give off that I am a successful man when I am not”.
Hijazi’s claim focused on comments Robinson made in relation to the bullying video, posting in two subsequent Facebook videos that Hijazi was “not innocent” and adding that he “violently attacked young English girls in his school.”
Robinson will again come before the court in August to determine if he committed contempt of court by missing a hearing in March, which he put down to mental health issues he was contending with after being harassed.