Tommy Robinson: Why was he jailed?

As Tommy Robinson is bailed pending a new hearing of the contempt of court charge that saw him jailed, we look at the details of the case and why he was released.

How did this start?

The far-right activist (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) was at Canterbury Crown Court on 8 May last year during the trial of four men for rape.

According to the judgment summary released on Wednesday, after the jury was sent out to deliberate, he was filming with commentary on the courtroom steps and inside the building, although not inside the courtroom.

He had intended to film the defendants, but the judge was made aware of what he was doing and sent them through another exit.

Notices throughout the court building warned that filming or taking photos at court could be a contempt of court offence.

Two days later he was arrested and appeared at the court.

That hearing was adjourned until 22 May, when the judge explained that the filming could have the effect of derailing the trial.

Robinson apologised to the court but the judge still considered his offence so serious that he was given a three-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months.

This meant that, as long as he did not commit further offences in 18 months, that would be the end of it.

So what happened next?

On 25 May this year, Robinson was at Leeds Crown Court for another trial.

Again he filmed himself standing outside the building. He live-streamed his commentary on Facebook over about 90 minutes.

But the trial had strict reporting restrictions: there was to be nothing published until the conclusion of that trial and another trial which was related. That second trial had not yet started.

Again, the judge brought Robinson into court after hearing what was happening outside the building.

The judge watched some of the video and Robinson offered to delete it from Facebook.

The judge ordered this, concerned that it could derail the trial and affect the trial yet to start.

Robinson was jailed for 10 months (reduced from 15 months because he had admitted the offence).

This sentence also meant the suspended sentence from Canterbury was activated, making a 13-month sentence in total.

What is contempt of court and why is it important?

There are a number of rules governing the reporting of court proceedings and these are aimed at ensuring a fair trial for any accused person.

A core part of the British legal system is that justice should be seen to be done - and this is where the press comes in - but there are cases where a judge decides to place restrictions on this reporting to avoid jurors being influenced.

So what happened today?

Robinson was appealing both convictions - the Canterbury and the Leeds cases.

The court dismissed the appeal regarding the Canterbury offence but allowed it for the Leeds charge.

The three judges said that the Leeds matter should not have gone ahead as quickly as it had.

They also said that once the video was removed from Facebook "there was no longer sufficient urgency to justify immediate proceedings".

But we still haven't heard the exact nature of the contempt and the judgment summary says: "There was no clarity about what the appellant (Robinson) was admitting or on what basis he was being sentenced".

The speed at which proceedings were started also meant Robinson's hastily-found defence lawyer in Leeds had "limited opportunity" to "investigate mitigation" as well as "no opportunity to obtain character references".

"A sense of proportion must be maintained," the judges added.

Robinson was bailed.

What now?

The Leeds matter will be called into court again at some point but Robinson will remain on bail until then.

Why did the case become so famous in the US?

There were protests in support of Robinson in the UK but he seems to have gained some fame in the US as well.

Robinson, who founded the English Defence League in 2009, is known to have a big fan in former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and it was reported that a US State Department official had raised the case with a British diplomat.

He has become well-known worldwide for his protests against what he calls the "Islamisation of our countries" and his anti-immigrant - and particularly anti-Muslim-immigrant - views speak to some in the US, particularly Trump supporters on the hard-right of the political spectrum.

After his imprisonment, he was the subject of many thousands of supportive tweets from those on the far-right in the US, with some painting his arrest as a move against free speech.