The far-right agitator Daniel Thomas has denied causing criminal damage after he was filmed appearing to slash a boat in the Channel with a blade while an emergency responder was onboard. Thomas, 37, appeared at Basingstoke magistrates court on Friday morning. He also pleaded not guilty to not disclosing to police the pin number of his phone, under section 53 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.
Prosecutor Kevin Lucie, outlining the basis of the criminal damage charge, alleged Thomas slashed an adrift boat with a knife. He told the court: “On 22 September, around 4.30, the defendant on his social platform livestreamed himself from a boat on the English Channel. He broadcast to a significant number of people a boat of migrants being supported by the RNLI in the English Channel.
It was a single rib which was adrift. He slashed the boat.” Lucie alleged that Thomas was arrested at a BP garage and was taken into custody, where his mobile phone was seized but he refused to provide the code. When asked about the boat, Lucie confirmed he was unsure if the damage was worth more or less than £5,000, and said: “Unfortunately, it is the case that it did go back to France.
We have asked for the cost of the damage.” Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, was refused bail. The father of four, described as a professional roofer, was seen dabbing his eyes with a tissue at one point during the hearing. He appeared for the hearing via video link, wearing a black top and grey coat, and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.
He was supported in court by his teenage son, as well as his fellow far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. Other supporters were placed in a separate room to watch a live stream from the court, a routine measure when interest in a case outstrips the space available in a courtroom. There was also a visible police presence, with an officer in the public gallery of the courtroom, another at the courtroom door and yet another in the seated waiting area outside the courtroom.
On Thursday evening, several hundred people – many wearing black – gathered outside a police investigation centre in Basingstoke, apparently in the belief Thomas was inside. Dozens of police officers could be seen monitoring the group outside the investigation centre as the protest continued for several hours. Thomas has said he would like a crown court trial.
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