Nocturnal 
Anti-migrant activist Danny Tommo has pleaded not guilty to criminal damage after he was accused of slashing a migrant dinghy in the English Channel while a rescue worker was still on board.
Tommo, real name Daniel Thomas, 37, appeared before Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on Friday and denied both the criminal damage charge and a second count of failing to disclose the PIN to his phone, as first reported by Sky News.
The 37-year-old, who founded the anti-migration group Patriot Platform, was refused bail and remanded in custody. He is next due at Portsmouth Crown Court on Tuesday 29 September, having elected for a Crown Court trial.
What Thomas is accused of
According to prosecutor Kevin Lucie, Thomas livestreamed himself on social media from a boat in the Channel at around 4.30pm on Tuesday 22 September, broadcasting to a large audience as migrants attempted the crossing, The Sun reports.
The court heard that a small RIB dinghy was left adrift, and Thomas allegedly instructed his own boat to be steered towards it before arming himself with a knife. French rescue workers were said to be approaching the vessel at the same time, and a crew member remained on board while the boat could reportedly be heard losing air.
Thomas allegedly told those on the boat: “This is what needs to happen to everyone in these boats. Right, you’re on English territory. This is England, this is not France anymore. Get off the boat, you have time to get off the boat. This is not France. Take them back,” according to the Daily Mail’s account of the prosecution’s opening.
Mr Lucie told the court the value of the damage was unknown, as the dinghy had since been returned to France, meaning it could not be established whether it exceeded £5,000.
Thomas was also charged with failing to disclose the PIN for his iPhone to officers, contrary to Section 53 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, after the device was seized. He denied that charge too. He was arrested at a BP petrol station on Wednesday evening, footage of which circulated online.
Supporters rally as case heads to Crown Court
A court sketch showed Thomas, described in court as a professional roofer and father of four, dabbing his eyes with a tissue during the hearing. His barrister, Simon Pentol KC, told magistrates that Thomas’s partner is four months pregnant with their fifth child, and that the family had faced “huge threat” over his activism, including the publication of his mother’s home address, which forced her to move.
Pentol stressed that his client “is not charged with an offence of political activism”, insisting the case was about the criminal damage and PIN allegations “and nothing more”.
Fellow right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, sat in the public gallery in support of Thomas, having joined supporters outside a Basingstoke police station the previous evening. Several hundred people, mostly wearing black, gathered there on Thursday night chanting “free DT” in a demonstration described as peaceful, with dozens of officers monitoring the crowd.
For now, Thomas remains in custody and denies both charges against him. His trial is set to begin at Portsmouth Crown Court, with the next hearing scheduled for Tuesday 29 September.
