Tommy Robinson: Old Bailey Judge Rules Contempt Of Court Case Must Be Heard By Attorney General

Tommy Robinson's prolonged battle with the legal system regarding his conviction, jail, and release on Contempt of Court charges will roll on to another day after a judge ruled that the case must be heard by the Attorney General.

Nicholas Hilliard QC said: "All the evidence must be very rigorously tested on both sides."

This means that another date must be set and the case will go before a judge and jury to decide whether Robinson is guilty.

Robinson appeared at the Old Bailey in London this morning for the second instalment of his contempt of court trial. He had previously been in prison but was released after his conviction was quashed in August by three judges at Leeds Crown Court.

Robinson was found guilty of live-streaming outside a court at which several grooming trials were taking place.

He was initially jailed for 13 months.

Before he was jailed, the judge said: "If jurors get to know of this video, I will no doubt be faced with an application to discharge the jury."

That would have meant retrial, which would have been expensive and - more importantly - potentially caused great distress to the victims of the crimes.

20 members of the grooming gang were found guilty on Friday. So far, 16 of the men involved have been jailed for a collective 220 years.

The Court of Appeal freed Robinson - whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon - because a failure in the proceedings had 'given rise to unfairness'.

Robinson's lawyer pleaded guilty on his behalf and apologised to the court, but because Contempt of Court is a 'strict liability' offence - which means that one doesn't have to know that one is committing the offence or intend to commit the offence to be guilty - he was taken to jail.

There was a huge police presence outside the court for the trial today, with supporters of Robinson spotted drinking alcohol and flying flags of organisations such as 'Generation Identity' - a group that supports racial division and has been described by Hope Not Hate as a 'racist movement'.

The trial was heard by the Recorder of London, the most senior judge at the Old Bailey, Nicholas Hilliard. However, Robinson's team asked for the case to be referred to the Attorney General to be heard in an adversarial manner.

This would mean both sides presenting a case that would be heard impartially, with both sides presenting witnesses and a prosecutor being appointed.

For today's proceedings, there was only Andrew McCullough, an appointed 'Advocate of the Court' who is unable to examine or cross examine witnesses.