Tommy Robinson has been cleared of a terror-related offence after being accused over a refusal to give police access to his phone during a border stop.
Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was driving a silver Bentley Bentayga SUV and was on his way to the Spanish tourist hotspot of Benidorm when he was stopped by officers at the Channel tunnel in Folkestone on 28 July 2024, Westminster magistrates court previously heard.
Police were suspicious of the far-right activist’s “vague replies” about what he was doing and demanded access to his iPhone under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, the court was told.
The act gives police the power to stop anyone passing through a UK port “to determine whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”.
Robinson refused to give police the pin for his phone because he said it had “journalistic material” on it, the court heard.
He was acquitted on Tuesday after a two-day trial during which his barrister said the police had engaged in a “fishing expedition” and that there had been no evidence from MI5 to suggest Robinson was a terrorist.
Source: The Guardian