Conspiracy theorist’s company funded Tommy Robinson film

US radio host Alex Jones’s InfoWars ‘effectively commissioned’ Silenced, court told as far-Right activist is sentenced for 18 months

The film that earned Tommy Robinson an 18-month prison sentence was funded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, it has emerged.
Robinson, 41, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was sentenced on Monday for committing contempt of court 10 times by repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Four of those counts related to the publication and distribution of his film Silenced, which was first released in June last year.
Mr Jones is an American radio show host who is best-known for falsely claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were killed, was staged.
Woolwich Crown Court was told on Monday that Silenced included false allegations against Jamal Hijazi, who had previously successfully sued Robinson for libel and won an injunction barring him from repeating the claims.
Sasha Wass KC, representing Robinson, said the one-hour 45-minute film was “effectively commissioned” by Mr Jones’s InfoWars.
She told the court that the company had funded the project’s costs and provided it with equipment used in producing the film.
Ms Wass added that although Robinson, 41, was the “driving force” behind the film and its content, it “actually belonged to others”.
She did not disclose the specifics of the film’s ownership.
InfoWars was founded by Mr Jones, who has 2.9 million followers on X, formerly Twitter, in 1999 and publishes conspiracy theories and misinformation.
Robinson has been a guest on The Alex Jones Show, which is published by InfoWars, a number of times in recent years, including in 2017, 2018 and in August this year.
Last week, Mr Jones wrote on X that the “bad guys” would “come for Tommy”.
“We all need to be prepared for the bad guys to come for Tommy and be ready to come to his support,” he said.
“The fact that he had X to expose the lies of the Labour government that was trying to set him up was key.”
After Robinson was remanded in custody on Friday ahead of his court appearance, he wrote: “The UK is now run like North Korea. FREE Tommy ROBINSON NOW!!!”
In 2021, Mr Jones was found liable for defaming the parents of children killed in the Sandy Hook shooting and the following year admitted the shooting was “100 per cent real”.
The conspiracy theorist and online broadcaster has been ordered to pay $1.5 billion (£1.15 billion) to the families of the victims of the mass shooting because of his false claims. He later declared bankruptcy.