Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - also known as Tommy Robinson - has been jailed for 18 months after admitting contempt of court by repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee, in breach of an injunction.

The former English Defence League leader admitted 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021 at the start of a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday.

Lawyers for the Solicitor General claimed the 41-year-old had been “thumbing his nose at the court” and “undermining” the rule of law, including by publishing a film called Silenced, which contains the libellous allegations, last year.

Barristers for Robinson, who wore a grey suit and white shirt, said it was his “principles that have brought him before the court”.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Johnson said the breaches of the injunction were not “accidental, negligent or merely reckless” and that the “custodial threshold is amply crossed”.

He said: “It was a planned, deliberate, direct, flagrant breach of the court’s orders.”

He continued: “Nobody is above the law. Nobody can pick and choose which injunctions they obey and those they do not.”

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He added: “It is in the interests of the whole community that injunctions are obeyed.”

Robinson, in a grey suit and white shirt, stood with his hands on the edge of the dock and looked up at dozens of supporters, shrugging his shoulders, as the judge handed down the sentence.

Dozens of his supporters packed the public gallery and stood outside the court on Monday.