Concluding his remarks, Mr Eardley cracked a smirk of apparent disbelief from Robinson when he said: “This is not a matter about Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s political views. It’s not even directly a question of freedom of expression.

“This is a case of disobedience to a court order and the attack on the rule of law that goes with it. »

Sasha Wass KC, on behalf of Robinson, told the court he was “a professional journalist” who “specialized in controversial topics, many of which had not been covered by the mainstream media.”

She told the court that production of Silenced was financed by Infowars, a company run by Alex Jones, an American who claimed the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax.

Ms Wass said: “He (Robinson) acted as he did and he accepts his guilt because he believes passionately in freedom of speech, a free press and his overwhelming desire to express the truth .

“The defendant believes that the public has a right to all information, not just that provided by the mainstream media, so that they can form their own opinions. That said, he accepts the violations as stated, but would like me to clarify on his behalf that he has always followed his principles.

Ms Wass said Robinson was “entitled to a significant reduction” in his sentence due to his guilty plea and the likelihood he would be placed in “solitary confinement” in prison.

She said his mental health was damaged after he spent his entire last three-and-a-half year sentence in solitary confinement to protect him from other prisoners.

Robinson stood to hear the sentence handed down by Judge Johnson, who told the court: “This morning the defendant admitted that he had breached the injunction in the manner directed by the Solicitor General. »

He said Robinson’s offenses were of “medium to high” seriousness and his previous convictions for contempt of court were “aggravating factors”.

Judge Johnson said the “impact of the conditions of detention on the accused” and his compliance with the 2021 to 2023 court order were mitigating factors.

But he said Robinson had “shown no remorse” and acted as if he “considered himself above the law”. He said: “Each individual offense is so serious that a non-custodial sentence could not be justified. »

He sentenced Robinson to 18 months, less the three days he has spent in custody since Friday.