Incident in the English Channel

On Tuesday, 22 September 2026, far-right activist Daniel Thomas, known online as Danny Tommo, filmed himself in a motorboat pursuing a small inflatable dinghy across the English Channel. The craft had departed the French coast near Normandy roughly 40 hours earlier carrying about 60 asylum seekers attempting to reach southern England. In response to the crossing, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution dispatched two rescue vessels to the area between Normandy and Hampshire. Following the pursuit by Thomas and his associates, rescue crews transferred the passengers from an RNLI lifeboat to a British Border Force vessel to evacuate them safely. After the migrants were transferred, an emergency responder in an orange uniform from the French maritime rescue service SNSM remained aboard the dinghy to secure the vessel and recover property left inside.

Video footage and confrontation

Thomas approached the craft while broadcasting live on YouTube to an audience of more than 100,000 viewers. He shouted insults at the crew before pulling alongside the deflating boat.

“You're on English territory. This is England.”

Standing over the side of his boat with a blade, Thomas ordered the French emergency worker to vacate the craft before using the knife to slash into the rubber tubing.

“You've got time to get off the boat.”

Police arrest and court charges

On Wednesday evening, 23 September 2026, officers from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary arrested Thomas at a petrol station, an encounter that he also streamed live on his social media channel. Police held the 37-year-old on suspicion of criminal damage with intent to endanger life and destroying or endangering the safety of a ship. On Thursday, 24 September 2026, Hampshire Police formally charged Thomas with criminal damage and failing to disclose the PIN to his mobile phone. Authorities remanded him in custody to appear before Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on the morning of Friday, 25 September 2026. Earlier on Wednesday, police also arrested six anti-migrant demonstrators in Gosport after a gathering called by Thomas became hostile when authorities diverted migrant arrivals to Dover.

Political activity and crossing statistics

Thomas established the activist group Patriot Platform in June 2026, using online platforms to urge resistance against Channel crossings. In early September 2026, members of the organization briefly blocked roads at the Port of Dover, followed by demonstrations in Portsmouth involving hundreds of masked participants dressed in black. British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood described Thomas earlier in September 2026 as an outright racist. Thomas previously worked as an associate and driver for right-wing activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. In 2016, Thomas served a two-year prison sentence following a conviction for attempted kidnapping, and French security authorities placed him under monitoring in early 2026 after he traveled to northern French beaches to disrupt boat departures.

The Channel confrontation took place during a period of high crossing activity. UK Home Office figures show that 781 migrants arrived in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, representing the highest single-day arrival total recorded in 2026. Cumulative small boat arrivals for the year reached 18,565 people, a decrease of more than 40% compared to the same period in 2025.