By judge for breaking rules

breach of the ruling. The 34-yearold from Luton was given a threemonth jail sentence, suspended for 18 months, after arriving for the hearing with a QC, another barrister and a solicitor – all paid for by his supporters.

The judge told him: “On May 8, as proceedings in a rape trial were still ongoing, you attended with another and carried out filming on the court steps and inside the building.

“Both of those film pieces were then published on the internet under a heading which read: ‘Tommy Robinson in Canterbury exposing child rapists. Police help them escape’.

“These were deliberate actions on your part to take photographs of the defendants, actions which you continued in spite of being told not to do it.

“You made it abundantly clear that your mission was to film the defendants, who you referred to by their religion, as ‘Muslim child rapists’ and ‘Muslim paedophiles’.

“I take a very dim view of your conduct, which was in the face of repeated warnings.”

The judge added that responsible members of the Press, “like the Kentish Gazette”, would never have breached the strict liability rules which apply to ongoing cases.

Richard Kovalevsky QC, defending, said Robinson had been told by police officers and an usher at a magistrates court in Luton he could film in the pre- cincts but not in the courtroom.

The QC asked for a prison sentence to be suspended because Robinson had received death threats after his association with the right-wing EDL – although he has not been a member since 2013.

Within minutes of the hearing’s conclusion, Robinson spoke to supporters via the internet saying: “Because of you, I’m a free man tonight.

“I’m headed back home to my family now. It’s my son’s birthday today. I’ll be with him, instead of in prison.

“And I know that would not have been the outcome without the excellent legal team that was 100% crowdfunded – mostly by people I’ve never actually met.”