Tommy
Robinson arrives in Tenerife as UK police investigate alleged assault
Far-right
activist flies to Spain after video emerges of him at scene of alleged assault
at London St Pancras station
Vikram
Dodd Police and crime correspondent
Wed 30
Jul 2025 19.43 CEST
The
far-right activist Tommy Robinson has arrived in Tenerife as British police
seek to question him over an alleged assault after he was filmed close to a man
who was left seriously injured on the ground.
Robinson
flew to Spain from the UK early on Tuesday. On Monday evening video emerged of
him saying “he come at me”, an apparent claim of self-defence, at the scene of
the alleged assault in St Pancras station in London as a 64-year-old man lay
motionless on the ground.
The
injured man was still in hospital on Wednesday in a stable condition. Police
are understood to be treating him as a victim, not a suspect, at this stage.
Police have said he was admitted to hospital “with serious injuries which are
not thought to be life-threatening”.
CCTV from
the busy central London station has been recovered and is being studied by
detectives.
British
Transport Police (BTP) say they were called to St Pancras at about 8.40pm on
Monday to reports of an assault. A source said detectives were confident they
had identified the suspect for the alleged assault and were not seeking anyone
else.
Police
are understood to have several lines of inquiry, one of which is locating
Robinson. While he is known to have arrived in Tenerife, in the past he has
travelled around Spain and into Portugal and Cyprus, sometimes relying on the
hospitality of wealthy friends.
Robinson,
whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a former leader of the
extreme-right English Defence League. The far-right monitoring group Hope Not
Hate describes him as the “best-known far-right extremist in Britain”.
Police
believe Robinson, 42, originally from Bedfordshire, took a flight out of
Britain shortly after a video was put online showing him near the injured man.
The video
shows Robinson claiming the man had attacked him first, and was filmed at St
Pancras station, where he had been leafleting earlier in the day.
BTP said
on Tuesday: “Following a report of an assault at St Pancras station last night
(28 July), officers have confirmed that the suspect, a 42-year-old man from
Bedfordshire, boarded a flight out of the country in the early hours of this
morning. Detectives are continuing to work closely to progress the
investigation and bring him into custody for questioning.”
In the
video, a man can be seen lying face down and motionless, with Robinson pacing
nearby. Robinson can be heard saying: “He come at me bruv.” Shortly afterwards,
Robinson tells an onlooker: “He come at me, you saw that.”
The video
seen on social media does not show how the injured man came to be lying
motionless on the floor.
Nothing
known publicly at this stage proves or disproves any version of the alleged
assault, nor who may have been at fault.
The
Conservatives’ home affairs spokesperson, Chris Philp, a policing minister in
the last government, told the Guardian that the case raised questions about
border security.
Philp
said: “The fact that a wanted fugitive was able to pass through our
international border should not be allowed to happen and it is further evidence
of this government’s complete lack of border control, inbound or outbound.”
A
government spokesperson said: “This is an operational matter for the police.”
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