Daniel ‘Tommo’ Thomas (left) is a close associate of Nazi Tommy Robinson (right) and a ring leader of the mob in Epsom
Fascists have seized on a horrific sexual assault of a woman in a Surrey town to bring violence to the streets.
Far right and racist thugs invaded Epsom on Wednesday of last week and again on Monday.
Riot police were called both times as dozens of people blocked roads demanding information about the perpetrators of the attack.
Videos posted on YouTube of the events on Monday evening showed a crowd of about 150 thugs.
The police sent officers to try to engage with the far right protesters. The racists demanded personal details about the attack on the woman and filmed the exchange for social media.
The far right thugs then marauded through the streets targeting residential properties and local hotels that they falsely claimed were housing asylum seekers. At one point a large crowd chanted, “get them out”, outside a branch of Travelodge and threw eggs at the windows.
Later, a group of racists attempted to force their way in to a building on a residential street. They then went door to door asking residents if there are migrants living in the property.
Danny Tommo, whose real name is Daniel Thomas, is one of the ring leaders alongside Billy Cooper of the British Patriots.
Epsom resident Diana told Socialist Worker, “We know that the ringleaders have been shipped in. They are not part of the community. Some of the people on that protest didn’t even know their way around town.
“They were blocking cars and getting violent—there was racist language and drunken behaviour. How is any of that going to help that poor young woman?”
She added, “I feel ten times more unsafe because of their presence here. I feel my family members and people I know are a lot less safe.
“They can attack an innocent person because of the colour of their skin and because they are angry and looking for someone to blame. We have seen that in other parts of the country.
“They keep mentioning ‘Epsom hotel’ but there is no hotel for asylum seekers here so they are peddling lies essentially.”
Earlier in the day on Wednesday, Tommo was on the streets of Epsom with a microphone encouraging people to join protests and filming it for YouTube. He accused cops of covering up the identity of the woman’s attackers.
Social media posts advertising the meeting point on Monday also used the hashtag #epsomgangrapecoverup.
Tommo is a violent thug known as the right hand man of Nazi Tommy Robinson. He was convicted and jailed in 2016 along with two accomplices for attempting to kidnap someone at knifepoint.
After the Southport killings in the summer of 2024, Thomas used social media to stoke the wave of racist riots. “Every city has to go up,” he said. “Get prepared. Be ready. We have to. It has to go off in different cities. We have to show them we’ve had enough.”
Details of the rape in Epsom are not yet known. Police stated, “The victim was supported by a specialist Sexual Offences Liaison Officer”.
News reports said that a woman in her 20s was attacked by a group of men in the early hours of Saturday 11 April close to Epsom Methodist Church.
Police stated on Friday that they “have not found any evidence of the offence as reported but the investigation is ongoing”.
Assistant Chief Constable for Local Policing Sarah Grahame added there was “no evidence that asylum seekers or immigrants were involved”.
But that hasn’t stopped the far right weaponising violence against women to push a racist agenda.
“We all know who did it,” Cooper posted on Instagram.
Samira Ali from Women Against the Far Right told Socialist Worker, “I was horrified to hear about the rape and sexual assault in Epsom. Our thoughts are with her and all survivors and victims of sexual abuse who deserve justice.
“We know that violence against women and girls is a systemic issue that cuts across all communities.
“It will not be solved by racism and by scapegoating.”
The events in Epsom are part of a chain of events where the far right and fascists have tried to weaponise violence against women and girls. They exploit a real problem, racialise it and try to turn people’s anger into a force to batter Muslims and migrants.
But the far right’s claims to stand for women’s safety ring hollow. Two in five of those arrested in the far right riots in 2024 had previously been reported to the police for domestic abuse.
They use their protests to harass and intimidate women and black and Asian people. And they spread dangerous misinformation about the causes of sexual violence.
Last summer the National Police Chiefs’ Council released guidance to encourage police to disclose a suspect’s ethnicity and nationality in high-profile cases. The measure is meant to prevent the spread of misinformation about crime.
But it is a backwards step. It will allow the far right to draw more attention to the racial background of suspects in violent crimes.
Enny Choudhury, from the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants said the guidance will “simply fuel mistrust, deepen divisions, and make black and brown communities more vulnerable to prejudice and harm”.
The racists and fascists can be stopped. The 500,000 people who marched last month on the Together alliance demonstration in London showed that anti-racists are the majority.
And Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) has organised to push back fascist mobilisations in local areas.
When people get organised, they have been able to outnumber and drive back the far right threat.
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