Mum baffled after cash machine dispenses ‘free Tommy Robinson’ message on £10 note
A MUM has been left baffled after a cash machine dispensed a "free Tommy Robinson" message on a £10 note.
Kelly Goodrum admitted she was taken aback after finding her tenner scrawled with support for the inflammatory far-right campaigner.
Robinson, born Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, sparked mass protests outside Downing Street and in Leeds where he was jailed for contempt of court - with campaigners using the hashtag #freetommy to demand his release from jail.
Kelly, 41, found the message written in black pen opposite a picture of the Queen at a Halifax hole in the wall in Consett, Newcastle.
"It could have offended someone," she told the . "I wouldn't feel comfortable taking that in a shop."
But it was only when Kelly Googled Robinson - recently appointed as a political adviser to right-wing UKIP - that she found out more about his views.
"Now I know a little bit more, I don't think I'll be taking it to any shops," she said.
"It is a little bit controversial, and I don't think it is good it got into the machine."
Robinson, 36, is the former leader of the English Defence League (EDL), a far-right street protest movement formed to oppose the spread of "militant Islam".
He was initially jailed for 13 months for contempt of court after admitting to publishing information that could prejudice an ongoing trial.
Thankfully for Kelly, she will be able to swap the note for an unblemished one.
A Halifax spokesperson said there would be no problem handing it over, telling the Chronicle that she could "swap the marked up note in any of our branches".
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Robinson was already serving a suspended sentence for a previous contempt offence when he was jailed in May, triggering a violent #FreeTommy demonstration in June this year.
Bottles, metal barriers and traffic cones were thrown at cops as thousands gathered in Whitehall in support of the EDL founder
He successfully appealed against the contempt convictions in August, and was released on November 5.
Luton-born Robinson has continued to court controversy since - just days ago admitting to spreading fake news about Muslims attacking white children.
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