Danny Tommo pleads guilty to slashing migrant boat in the English Channel
Hard-right activist Daniel Thomas, 37, admitted criminal damage after cutting a migrant dinghy with a knife. Sentencing is set for 18 November at Portsmouth Crown Court.
Hard-right activist admits knifing migrant dinghy in the Channel
Hard-right activist Danny Tommo has pleaded guilty to criminal damage after slashing a migrant boat with a knife in the English Channel, the Evening Standard reports.
Tommo — real name Daniel Thomas, 37 — entered the guilty plea by video-link from prison at Portsmouth Crown Court on Thursday.
A court had previously heard that Thomas took a boat into the Channel and observed migrants aboard a dinghy being assisted by the RNLI, Border Force and the French Coastguard. Prosecutor Kevin Lucie told Basingstoke Magistrates' Court in September that Thomas instructed his vessel to be steered towards the empty rigid inflatable boat, which was adrift.
Thomas then armed himself with a knife as rescue crews approached the dinghy and a French national boarded from a rescue vessel. After cutting through the boat, Thomas could be heard saying: "This is what needs to happen to everyone in these boats. Right, you're on English territory. This is England, this is not France anymore. Get off the boat, you have time to get off the boat. This is not France. Take them back."
At Thursday's hearing, Thomas maintained his denial of a separate charge of failing to disclose the PIN to his phone to police under Section 53 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. His address was withheld by the court at a previous hearing.
The maximum sentence for criminal damage valued above £5,000 is 10 years in prison, according to the Sentencing Council. Where damage is assessed below £5,000, the maximum penalty is a fine and three months' custody. Thomas will receive credit for his guilty plea.
Judge James Newton-Price KC set sentencing for 18 November. Thomas remains in custody ahead of that date.
Source: Evening Standard