British anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – who is accused of refusing to give police his phone PIN when stopped under counter-terrorism laws – says billionaire Elon Musk is funding his legal defence.
Yaxley-Lennon, who is better known by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson, has become a flag-bearer for some British nationalists.
He is one of Britain’s most high-profile anti-migration campaigners, recently organising a rally of about 150,000 people in London.
In a video posted on social media on Monday (local time), ahead of his trial at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Yaxley-Lennon said 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”.
The 42-year-old 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 south-east 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.
He and colleagues seized Yaxley-Lennon’s phone and asked him to provide the password number. Yaxley-Lennon refused, saying he was a journalist and his phone contained privileged material.
He says he has been targeted by the state for exposing wrongdoing but is denounced by critics as a far-right rabble-rouser with a string of criminal convictions. He denies wilfully failing to comply with a duty imposed by the Terrorism Act.
The two-day trial is due to finish on Tuesday.
