Journalist 'Harassed’ At Home At 5am By Tommy Robinson Says: ‘He’s Trying To Shut Me Up’

Michael Stuchbery said he wouldn't be intimidated by the far-right activist.
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Michael Stuchbery and Tommy Robinson.
HuffPost UK

A journalist who was says he was “intimidated” at home by the far-right activist Tommy Robinson has said the 5am visit to his home was an attempt to “shut him up”.

Robinson, who’s real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, filmed himself knocking on the doors and windows of the Luton home of reporter Michael Stuchbery twice on Monday night.

Stuchbery, who has covered far-right issues for several publications, including HuffPost UK, called the police who arrived at around 11pm.

He said Robinson decided to leave soon after they arrived.

In the footage, Robinson makes several threatening comments, telling Stuchbery he will reveal “where you live, where you work, everything about you is going to be exposed”.

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Robinson filmed himself knocking on the doors and windows of the Luton home of Michael Stuchbery.
YouTube

Stuchbery said the visit was “intimidation on a massive scale”.

“He’s lost his Facebook and Instagram but he still has a whole bunch people who do share his stuff [...] he’s kind of trying to get me to shut up,” he told HuffPost UK.

He says the far-right activist returned again at 5.30am, banging on the door, before announcing he was coming back after he goes to the gym.

While this was going on, Stuchbery says he was bombarded with Facebook messages from Robinson supporters.

Stuchbery said: “I’m pissed off about this, it’s crossed several lines and I’ve had enough.”

“When you write about contentious issues you’re going to get some blow back, that’s part and parcel everything, but this is on a completely different level, these are gangster tactics, it’s really worrying stuff,” he said. 

Robinson has previously visited the homes of journalists, and said he knew the addresses of other reporters - and would visit them too - during the livestreamed footage.

Robinson has in the past uploaded videos on YouTube called ‘Troll Hunt’, where he visits the the authors of articles critical of him.

The far-right activist is an adviser to UKIP leader Gerard Batten and was a founding member of the controversial English Defence League. 

Stuchbery said he was aware that this had already happened to other people. “I’m a straight white guy who writes for a bunch of publications, if he can do this to me, what has he been doing to other people.

“He’s done it to a hell of a lot of people and a lot of them haven’t said anything about it and I’m really pissed off and I want to say something about it.”

Robinson’s decision to visit Stuchbery’s house appears to have been prompted by a legal letter delivered to Robinson’s home when he wasn’t at home.

The letter was sent by the lawyers of a 15-year-old Syrian refugee whose bullying at school was captured by video footage that went viral in an alleged racist attack.

Stuchbery had helped fundraise for the Syrian teen, known as Jamal, and tweeted about the letter being handed to Robinson.

Robinson waded into the row, claiming Jamal had attacked a white girl from the same school and posted accusatory videos on Facebook. He later admitted his claims weren’t true and he’d been duped. 

Jamal told HuffPost UK in February he planned to use some of the funds that had been raised for his family since the event to set up a charity that supports victims of bullying.

He said he had now settled in his new home in the Midlands, adding: “I feel safe now we are in a new place as no one knows me. I am trying to get into a new school and make a new life for myself. 

“I feel I have hope and want to get on with my life. I just want to go to a normal school and learn and make friends and have a normal life.”

Robinson was banned from Facebook and Instagram in February  after they said Robinson had repeatedly broken its guidelines.

Their statement said: “Tommy Robinson’s Facebook page has repeatedly broken these standards, posting material that uses dehumanising language and calls for violence targeted at Muslims. He has also behaved in ways that violate our policies around organised hate.”

Before he was banned, Robinson posted on his page an image of a rape support hotline for BAME women, asking why it didn’t offer support to white people. 

This led to the phone number included in the image being called by trolls who made threatening statements and forced the charity Rape Crisis UK to cancel the hotline and report the incident to the police.