Police detain far-right activist Tommy Robinson at Heathrow under counter-terror laws, phones seized

Detention and phone seizure

Tommy Robinson, the British anti-Islam activist whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was detained at Heathrow Airport on Saturday evening under the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said a man in his 40s was stopped at around 17:00 GMT after returning to the UK from Russia via Turkey. Robinson said he was held for almost three hours and that both his iPhone and Samsung Galaxy were taken. He was subsequently released.

My phone has been seized by the police.

Robinson, 43, also posted photos of detention documents online and asked supporters to contribute to a legal defence fund. A spokesperson for Robinson claimed the seizure amounted to an attack on free speech and investigative journalism.

They likely want to see who he is talking to, and maybe find out who his sources are... This is an attack on free speech, this is an attack on investigative journalism, nothing more nothing less.

Belfast violence and online activity

Robinson had tweeted heavily about violence that swept Belfast after a graphic video went viral showing a Sudanese suspect wielding a knife over a man during an attempted murder; the victim lost an eye. A Sudanese man has been charged with attempted murder, and police have said they are not treating the attack as terrorism. In the days that followed, rioters targeted homes and businesses owned by ethnic minorities or foreign residents.

The British minister for the province described the disorder as racist thuggery, and local politicians said far-right agitators online helped coordinate or promote the violence. Robinson shared lists of planned demonstrations and posted that foreign businesses were being destroyed and homes suspected of housing asylum seekers were getting trashed by angry locals. The posts were amplified when tech billionaire Elon Musk reposted the video to his 240 million followers on X.

Foreign businesses are being destroyed in Belfast.

Previous legal trouble

Earlier in the week, Robinson had posted a video from Moscow showing himself meeting Elon Musk’s father. The stop at Heathrow occurred on his return journey. In November 2025, Robinson was found not guilty of a terror offence after refusing to give police the PIN to his phone during a stop at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone in July 2024. A district judge concluded that the earlier stop might not have been lawful.