Far-right provocateur’s cross-Channel flit to escape the High Court’s scrutiny revives questions about what identities he is travelling under – and why Canadian border authorities thought he was born in Ireland

The absurd but apparently true story of how the far-right activist best known by his alias ‘Tommy Robinson’ (one of many) has fled Britain to continental Europe – just hours before he was due to be grilled in the High Court on an issue that could potentially have led to time behind bars – again raises questions about what documents the serial criminal is travelling under.

Stephen Lennon, as he is most likely known at the moment, was due to be examined by Mr Justice Johnson on Monday (29 July 2024) to determine whether he had committed contempt of court by making and screening a ‘documentary’ containing false allegations that he had already been directed by the court not to repeat.

Disregarding the requirement to appear in court on Monday, Lennon attempted to cross to France on the Sunday, via Le Shuttle, and was promptly detained at Eurotunnel Folkestone Terminal by counter-terrorism police (CTP). Though the authorities have restricted their comments to the familiar ‘a 41-year-old man’ format, that it was ‘Tommy’ is now widely known, not least because the man himself has publicised the fact.

According to Lennon, he was questioned for hours (at a location of international entry and exit, CTP have about seven hours of leeway to do this) before being arrested and charged – apparently for refusing to supply his smartphone PIN on request.

Puzzlingly, the police then released him on unconditional bail. With no proscription on travel in place, Lennon was free to simply switch from Shuttle (trains carrying road vehicles and their passengers) to Eurostar (trains for ‘foot’ passengers only) and travel to France regardless, leaving his High Court appointment blowing in the wind and the UK authorities looking at best uncoordinated (some might use ‘clown car’ as a simile of choice).

It is not unreasonable to presume that Lennon used a passport (possibly more than one) during this debacle. Searchlight staff familiar with Eurotunnel Folkestone Terminal say that CTP screening occurs after passengers have cleared Passport Control, so to get that far Lennon would need to have proffered a passport for inspection. He will also need to have cleared Passport Control to have travelled by Eurostar.

‘Well,’ you may think, ‘he’s a UK citizen, he presents a UK passport, he clears Passport Control. Nothing mysterious about that’. Nor is there, if the premise is correct. It is presumed that Lennon has a British passport, but this is not as cut-and-dried as it sounds. The last time we can remember him being publicly identified as owning a UK travel document, it was under a different name to the one he is currently known by.

Back in 2013, when ‘Robinson’ was on trial at Southwark crown court for using someone else’s passport in an attempt to enter the United States undetected (he was found guilty and imprisoned for 10 months), it came out during the hearing that he travelled back from the US on a passport in the name of Paul Harris, and that this was a valid, legal document.

Even the trial judge was puzzled, and stated: “I am going to sentence you under the name of Stephen Lennon, although I suspect that is not actually your true name, in the sense that it is not the name that appears on your passport.” Searchlight sources say that Lennon had changed his name to Paul Harris by deed poll, though this cannot be confirmed because such identity shifts are officially confidential, and publication of the fact only occurs if the individual chooses to do so themselves.

For the same reason, we cannot actually be sure that he ever changed it back from Paul Harris. He has certainly been prosecuted as Stephen Lennon in the intervening years, but as the 2013 case illustrates, it seems to be possible in this country to be arrested, tried and even go to prison under an ‘also known as’ identity. There is, though, inconclusive but convincing evidence that Lennon is travelling, at least some of the time, on a Republic of Ireland passport.

On a recent ‘speaking tour’ of Canada, which collapsed on itself because, apparently, almost no one wanted to listen to him, Lennon aborted the exercise by contriving to get himself arrested in Calgary (pictured above), where he was wanted in connection with immigration offences.

Far from keeping this quiet, Lennon posted online a photograph of a Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) notice of rights issued to him as someone arrested or detained by the agency. Unsurprisingly this carries his correct date of birth. Slightly more surprisingly, it gives his surname simply as ‘Lennon’ and his given name(s) as just ‘Stephen’. The surprise here being that his full name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, which is what we would expect to see if the form had been completed with reference to a British passport.

Definitely more surprising is that under ‘Country of citizenship’ the agency has stated ‘Ireland’. It seems more than reasonable to conclude from this that Lennon was travelling on an Irish passport. There is no reason to regard this as suspicious in itself. It is widely believed that Lennon’s mother, whose maiden name was Carroll, was born in Dublin, and this would unquestionably qualify him for Irish citizenship and an Eire passport. It might fly somewhat in the face of his expressed passion for Brexit and his Ingerlund-till-I-die public persona, but there’s nothing even faintly illegal about it.

Most surprising of all is that under ‘Country of birth’ the CBSA form also states ‘Ireland’. And the reason that this is so surprising is that it simply isn’t true. ‘Tommy Robinson’ was born Stephen Christopher Yaxley (he added the ‘Lennon’ later) on 27 November 1982 in Luton, England.

The CBSA does not comment on any individual, completed example of the arrest / detention form, for privacy reasons. (In fact they were not even allowed to confirm whether the form Lennon posted online was authentic). But in an effort to be as helpful as they are allowed to be, they did supply Searchlight with the information that “In general, the Agency uses a combination of information available to CBSA officials to assess identity. This may include travel documents presented by the individual as well as other documentation and biometric information (if available).”

So while we are never going to get an answer from CBSA on whence, specifically, they drew the data that Stephen Lennon was born in Ireland, they have clearly gained this impression from somewhere within their “information available”.

It seems fair, then, to wonder what has led the Canadians to this conclusion. Because Lennon should have no official documentation issued in either the UK or ROI detailing him as having been born in Ireland. And it strikes us as reasonable to call on the British, Irish and Canadian authorities to compare notes about what is going on here – and in particular to ensure that any passport(s) in use by Lennon are populated with accurate data, including his full name and correct place of birth.