Danny Tommo charged with criminal damage after Channel boat slashing

Far-right activist Daniel Thomas – known to his supporters as Danny Tommo – has been charged with criminal damage after he was filmed slashing a boat in the English Channel with an emergency responder on board.

The 37-year-old, of no fixed address, was also charged on Thursday evening with failing to disclose the Pin to his phone to police, under Section 53 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

He was remanded into custody to appear at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on Friday, Hampshire police said.

The force said: “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.”

Several hundred people, largely wearing black, gathered outside a police investigation centre in Basingstoke on Thursday evening, believing that Thomas was inside.

They arrived together at just before 6.30pm and stood on the road outside the investigation centre and began chanting “free DT”.

Protesters take part in a communal prayer outside the Basingstoke police investigation centre where they believed Danny Tommo was being held (PA Wire/PA Images)

PA Wire

Most were not masked, though some could be seen wearing face coverings.

Dozens of police officers could be seen monitoring the group outside the investigation centre as the protest continued for several hours.

The demonstration was peaceful, with the group moving out of the road to make way for approaching traffic.

On Thursday evening, Chris Derrick from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has decided to prosecute Daniel Thomas following an investigation by Hampshire Constabulary into an incident on Tuesday September 22.

“Our prosecutors have worked to establish that there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to court and that it is in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.

“We remind all concerned that proceedings against the defendant are active and he has the right to a fair trial.”

Police in Gosport after British rescue boats were sent to collect the migrant dinghy passengers (PA)

PA Wire

The incident on Tuesday came as hundreds of activists gathered in Gosport after Thomas filmed himself going out to sea to try to intercept a dinghy carrying dozens of migrants.

Footage was posted on YouTube, and Thomas appears to have also filmed his own arrest in a video streamed on his channel.

The police said six people were arrested during the evening, as the protesters wrongly assumed the boat would be guided to the Hampshire coast.

In fact, it docked in Dover, Kent, at around 12.30am on Wednesday after 51 migrants on board reportedly refused help from a French ship and spent 33 hours at sea.

Earlier this month, a dinghy was met by lifeboats from the Isle of Wight having set off from the Cherbourg area, triggering protests in Portsmouth. It is thought to have made one of the longest journeys of any small boat in the Channel.

Two other migrant boats have also managed to land undetected in the UK on Monday and Tuesday this week, the first time in a year that there have been unescorted landings and the only time since the start of 2023.

A Home Office spokesman said 21 people who landed on Tuesday had been detained.

Some 17,480 migrants have arrived after crossing the Channel by boat so far this year, including 5,011 since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.

The total so far for 2026 is down 46% on the same point last year.