Anti-migrant activist Daniel Thomas has been remanded in custody, charged with criminal damage after a video appeared to show him slashing a Channel dinghy. He also faces a charge of failing to disclose his phone PIN and is due in court Friday.
Hampshire Police said the boat, which had an emergency responder aboard, was damaged in the Channel on Tuesday. A French coastguard official was on board when Thomas appeared to slash at it. About 50 migrants who had travelled from Normandy on the boat had already been transferred to RNLI lifeboats; they were later moved to a UK Border Force vessel and taken to Dover for processing.
Thomas is due to appear by videolink at Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on Friday. Chris Derrick, the CPS Wessex deputy chief crown prosecutor, said prosecutors considered there was sufficient evidence to bring the case to court and that prosecution was in the public interest; he also stressed Thomas's right to a fair trial. Several hundred people who believed Thomas was inside gathered outside a police investigation centre in Basingstoke on Thursday, chanting “free DT”. They dispersed after learning of the charges.
