Activist Denies Slashing a Channel Dinghy; Bail Refused
Daniel Thomas, 37, known as Danny Tommo, pleaded not guilty at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court to criminal damage and to failing to disclose his phone code, and was refused bail. The court heard the alleged slashing of an adrift inflatable being supported by the RNLI was livestreamed on 22 September at about half past four. The Deputy Chief Magistrate said he was “satisfied there is a real possibility of an immediate custodial sentence in this case”. He will appear at Portsmouth Crown Court on Tuesday.
The case arrives in the same week the Home Office confirmed the year’s record crossing day — 781 people in ten boats on Wednesday, against 752 in July — and days after two boats reached Kent undetected, prompting the Home Secretary’s review. That context is why a criminal damage charge has drawn a crowd: hundreds gathered in Basingstoke on Thursday evening, and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon watched from the public gallery. His counsel, Simon Pentol KC, set out the defence’s frame in a sentence: “This defendant is not charged with an offence of political activism, whether you agree with it or not, that is not the issue.” The damage value is not yet established because the boat returned to France. Proceedings are active and he denies the charges.