Daniel Thomas, the founder of the anti-migration group Patriot Platform and an associate of Tommy Robinson, has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life following an incident involving a boat carrying an emergency responder in the English Channel.
Thomas, known to supporters as “Danny Tommo”, was arrested on Wednesday, 23 September, after Hampshire police received a report concerning damage to a vessel.
Police said the 37-year-old, of no fixed abode, was arrested on suspicion of destroying ships or fixed platforms or endangering their safety under Section 11 of the Aviation and Maritime Security Act 1990. He was also arrested on suspicion of criminal damage, criminal damage with intent to endanger life, and conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals under Section 58 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.
He remains in custody.
The arrest follows the publication of a video that appears to show Thomas using a knife to slash an inflatable boat while an emergency responder was on board.
The footage has caused widespread concern because of the potential danger posed to anyone on or around the vessel. What may have been presented by Thomas and his supporters as direct action against migration has instead become the subject of a serious police investigation into alleged criminal conduct and potential risks to life.
Thomas is the founder of Patriot Platform, a recently formed anti-migration organisation that has organised confrontational demonstrations, including protests in Dover and Portsmouth.
The group has attracted attention for the presence of masked demonstrators and aggressive rhetoric surrounding migration. Thomas has also been associated with Tommy Robinson, the far-right campaigner, and has previously acted as a bodyguard for him.
Patriot Platform protests have already had consequences for emergency services. The RNLI temporarily took its Portsmouth lifeboat station out of service amid concerns over hostility directed towards volunteers during anti-migration demonstrations.
The irony will not be lost on many observers: an organisation claiming to be defending Britain has become associated with protests that have placed pressure on volunteers whose role is to save lives at sea.
The latest incident raises an even more serious question. Whatever someone’s views on migration, deliberately damaging a vessel while an emergency responder is aboard is not political protest in any ordinary sense. It is potentially dangerous conduct, which is precisely why Parliament has created criminal offences covering behaviour that endangers ships and people.
Thomas has not been charged with the offences and an arrest is not evidence of guilt. The allegations will ultimately have to be tested through the criminal justice system.
But the arrest marks another extraordinary development surrounding Patriot Platform and its increasingly confrontational style of anti-migration activism.
For a movement that claims to be defending Britain, its founder now finds himself in police custody while officers investigate allegations involving a boat, a knife and the potential endangerment of life.
