The far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been refused permission to launch a legal challenge against his prison conditions.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, had been seeking to apply for a judicial review of the decision to segregate him from other prisoners. He claimed it was politically motivated and affecting his mental health.
The risk from other prisoners was cited in written submissions by lawyers for the secretary of state for justice to back up the decision to locate him in a segregation unit at HMP Woodhill in Milton Keynes.
A “lifer” in the prison planned to kill Robinson and two other prisoners plotted to attack him to gain “kudos and notoriety”, the high court was told on Thursday.
Robinson is serving an 18-month sentence for contempt of court for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee, in breach of an injunction. He is due to be released on 25 July.
In a written judgment on Friday, Mr Justice Chamberlain refused Robinson’s application, saying there was nothing to suggest that the decision to segregate him was taken for the purpose of breaking his resistance or humiliating or debasing him.
“On the contrary, all the evidence shows that it was taken for his own protection and in the interests of preserving the safety of other prisoners and staff,” the judge added.
“It was not mere speculation that he would be at risk from Muslim prisoners. He himself had said, when first detained at HMP Belmarsh, that he had a ‘conflict’ with the followers of Islam.”
The judge referred to the specific intelligence of the threats against Robinson, including one to his life, and added that a range of steps had been taken to ameliorate the impact of the prisoner’s segregation.
His mental health is being properly and regularly monitored by professionals from the prison’s psychology service and the NHS, and he is visited every day by an NHS doctor or nurse.
Robinson’s application to challenge his prison conditions has meant a separate prosecution – for allegedly refusing to comply with a search of his phone by police using counter-terrorism powers – has been delayed for months.
Robinson was transferred to HMP Woodhill in November from HMP Belmarsh. The high court was told in written submissions that this transfer took place after death threats and racist abuse were directed on social media and in correspondence to the Belmarsh governor, who is a black woman.
