Danny Tommo charged with criminal damage after boat is slashed in the Channel

A far-right activist who shadowed a migrant boat that at one stage was headed for Gosport has been charged after slashing an inflatable boat with an emergency responder on board.

Daniel Thomas – known to his supporters as Danny Tommo – who grew up on Hayling Island, has been charged with criminal damage and failing to disclose the PIN to his phone after he was filmed slashing a boat in the English Channel.

The 37-year-old, of no fixed abode, was remanded into custody to appear at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Hampshire police said in a statement.

The force said in a statement on Thursday evening: “The charges follow an allegation made to police that damage had been caused to a boat in the Channel whilst an emergency responder was on board.”

Earlier this evening a crowd of his supporters gathered outside a police station in Basingstoke, where Thomas was being questioned.

Earlier this month Thomas urged a protest in Ferry Road, Eastney, as migrants were brought ashore on the Hayling Ferry pontoon. He also turned up the next day to confront Reform UK’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf.