Plots to harm Tommy Robinson in prison, court told

The High Court has said it expects to rule on Friday on whether far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon can challenge his jail conditions.

Prison authorities segregated Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the alias Tommy Robinson, after concluding other inmates had put a "mark on his head" and may have been planning to try to kill him.

The Luton man says that the segregation at HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes, is destroying his mental health and breaching his human rights.

Details of his life in jail reveal he has received more visits than any other inmates as part of a "bespoke regime" to keep him safe – but Yaxley-Lennon says his separation from other inmates is ideologically motivated.

He is due to be released on licence at the end of July.

Yaxley-Lennon's High Court application to challenge his prison conditions means an unrelated prosecution – for allegedly refusing to comply with a counter-terrorism search of his phone – has been put back for months.

That trial, which relates to his alleged refusal to co-operate with police at the Eurotunnel terminal last July, had been due to begin today.

That case has been delayed to allow his challenge to be heard first.

The founder of the now-defunct English Defence League was jailed for 18 months last October for breaching a court order which had directed him not to repeat lies about a Syrian refugee.

Since November, he has been held in a closed wing at HMP Woodhill.

Alisdair Williamson KC, for Yaxley-Lennon, said the conditions amounted to a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights because his client had a complex form of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yaxley-Lennon was said to be concerned that his mental health would deteriorate on release and he would return to substance abuse to cope.

He told the court that his client's treatment did not amount to torture but was unlawful degrading treatment, and he was being dealt with differently partly because of his ideology.

Tom Cross KC, for the justice secretary, said the segregation was not a punishment but a carefully considered "bespoke regime" to keep the prisoner safe.

Prison authorities had received intelligence that Yaxley-Lennon had "a mark on his head", he said. Two prisoners had been planning to assault him to "gain kudos and notoriety".

Another tip suggested that an inmate serving a life sentence would kill Yaxley-Lennon if they were ever placed on the same wing.

Mr Cross said Yaxley-Lennon had three hours to exercise and use a gym. He can arrange four two-hour long visits a week from friends and family.

Some 120 people have been authorised to see him on 93 visits – more than any other inmate.

He has a TV and a DVD player and is receiving hundreds of emails from supporters on a dedicated laptop.

While that evidence was given, thickly-bearded Yaxley-Lennon could be seen shaking his head on a video link from prison and occasionally gesticulating with his arms.

Mr Justice Chamberlain said he hoped to rule on Friday on whether the case would go ahead to a full challenge.

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