Police have launched an investigation after far-right activist Danny Tommo filmed himself slashing an inflatable dinghy in the English Channel while a rescue worker was still aboard.
Footage from Tommo’s livestream shows him approaching the black dinghy after its passengers had been transferred to rescue vessels. Dozens of abandoned lifejackets remained inside.
A rescue worker then stepped from a larger vessel into the dinghy. Tommo, whose real name is Daniel Thomas, could be seen repeatedly driving a blade into its inflatable side before pulling away.
“This is England. This is not France any more,” he shouted during the incident.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary has confirmed it is making enquiries into the footage. No arrest relating specifically to the damage shown in the video had been announced at the time of publication.
Rescuer was still on the dinghy
Thomas spent Tuesday afternoon livestreaming from a small boat as he tracked two dinghies carrying people towards Britain.
The footage was reportedly watched by as many as 100,000 people.
By the time Thomas approached the dinghy, its passengers had been removed. However, a rescue worker wearing an orange high-visibility suit and yellow helmet stepped aboard from a larger vessel as Thomas drew alongside.
Thomas punctured the dinghy several times, with air audibly escaping from its side.
After noticing the worker, he shouted: “Get off the boat. You’ve got time to get off the boat.”
Thomas and the people travelling with him then moved away. The livestream did not show the rescue worker leaving the damaged dinghy.
The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants described what happened as violent and dangerous, while Stand Up to Racism condemned Thomas for using a knife while an emergency worker was on the vessel.
Police are examining the footage
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said it was aware of a video showing damage being caused to a boat in the Channel on 22 September and was “conducting enquiries into the matter”.
The force has not said which possible offences are being considered.
Six people were separately arrested after protesters gathered in Gosport later that evening. Police said some members of the crowd became hostile after learning that the rescued passengers would not be arriving in Hampshire.
The arrests were for suspected offences including careless driving, assaulting an emergency worker and aggravated trespass.
There is no indication that Thomas was among those six people, and those arrests should not be confused with the investigation into the dinghy footage.
Around 60 people spent more than 30 hours at sea
The dinghy had reportedly left the Normandy coast near Vierville-sur-Mer, west of Bayeux, on Monday morning.
The French coastguard said around 60 people remained at sea for more than 33 hours in precarious conditions. They had declined earlier offers of assistance because they were determined to reach Britain.
The RNLI said there were concerns about the passengers’ deteriorating health and the possibility of a catastrophic failure of the dinghy.
Rescue vessels supported by a Coastguard aircraft were sent to the scene. The passengers were eventually transferred to an RNLI vessel and then handed over to Border Force.
They were taken to Dover rather than Gosport, where hundreds of protesters had gathered expecting them to arrive.
The crossing was one of the longest attempted by a small boat travelling to Britain. Most departures take place much further east around Calais, where the Channel is considerably narrower.
Protesters gathered at the wrong port
Thomas used social media to tell supporters to travel to Gosport as the rescue operation unfolded.
Hundreds arrived near the marina, with footage showing groups chanting “send them back”. Police deployed officers and vehicles across Gosport and Portsmouth in preparation for the expected landing.
The passengers were instead carried by Border Force to Dover.
Police said a group remaining in Gosport became hostile towards officers after the change was announced. Six people were arrested and remained in custody while enquiries continued.
Local politicians had already objected to Hampshire being used for small boat arrivals.
Police and crime commissioner Donna Jones said Hampshire did not have the facilities to process arrivals and warned that repeated landings would place an unsustainable burden on local police.
Gosport Borough Council also argued that the town was unsuitable because its geography and limited road access would make it vulnerable to blockades.
Thomas has organised previous port protests
Thomas founded the anti-migration group Patriot Platform and has been involved in recent demonstrations in Dover and Portsmouth.
Earlier this month, hundreds of masked protesters blocked roads around the Port of Dover. Thomas shared footage from the demonstration and declared it a warning.
Nigel Farage condemned the blockade and described the sight of protesters concealing their identities behind balaclavas as “disgusting”.
The Daily Britain reported the Dover protest and Thomas’s role here.
A protest in Portsmouth the following day ended with police officers injured and emergency vehicles damaged after activists attempted to stop coaches carrying people rescued from the Channel.
RNLI volunteers were subsequently called traitors, while photographs and personal information belonging to crew members were circulated online.
The Portsmouth lifeboat station was temporarily taken off service from 7 September so the charity could review the safety and wellbeing of its volunteers. Search and rescue cover continued through neighbouring stations and other emergency assets.
James O’Brien later condemned the abuse directed at the lifeboat crews.
The RNLI says it responds when tasked by HM Coastguard and rescues people in danger without making judgements about their nationality or immigration status.
Its lifeboats launched 9,058 times in 2025. Only 109 of those launches, around 1.2 per cent, involved small boats in the Channel.
Small boat crossings are down this year
The incident comes despite a substantial fall in recorded Channel arrivals during 2026.
Some 17,480 people had crossed in small boats by 22 September, down 46 per cent on the same point in 2025.
The government says the decline shows its border policies are having an effect. Critics argue that crossings continue and that the arrival of boats from further west along the French coast creates new operational problems.
That argument will continue at Westminster. The immediate police investigation concerns something more specific: footage of a man puncturing a vessel at sea while a rescue worker was still standing aboard it.
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