Patriot Platform leader Danny Tommo Thomas plans to lay siege to asylum centres

The convicted criminal behind the masked anti-migrant group Patriot Platform wants to target asylum centres, we can reveal.

Danny "Tommo" Thomas, whose balaclava-clad followers have brought chaos to both Dover and Portsmouth in recent days, has suggested he wants followers to camp outside shelters for days to stop officials transporting migrants. Under Thomas' plans, the protesters would operate 24/7 blockades, with members from around the UK maintaining the barricade in shifts.

Critics tonight condemned the idea, including Mike Tapp, MP for Dover, which was blitzed by the mob last weekend. He said: "It’s important to understand that the processing of asylum applications has increased significantly under this government, bringing down a backlog by over 70%. Any actions that get in the way of processing asylum applications could slow down the number of deportations and removals - which is also up significantly under this government."

Thomas revealed the plot in an interview with fellow rabble rouser Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. The convicted attempted kidnapper said: "I predict in the next six months, the Patriot platform, with one message through a secure app, will be able to bring five to 10,000 people to a location within a matter of hours."

He said one target could be Piddington, Oxfordshire, where asylum seekers could be housed at a nearby former MoD site. Thomas said: "A prime example, Piddington, where the migrants are about to to go in. How powerful would it be if 5,000 men, when they know the MO, because we've proven who we are, what how our conduct is, that we surround that camp, we take tents, we sit there for days and we don't let them get in till they can't bring them in."

Thomas, who was privately educated in Hampshire, spoke about the plan in an interview with his pal Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. He said: "We're trying to do something that's never been done before in a way that it's never been done before to get results that we've never seen before."

Thomas, who was jailed for his part in the attempted armed kidnapping of a man in 2016 before turning to Christianity, also suggested to Robinson, 43, that Brits turning away from the religion has caused moral decline over the last "80 or 90 years". The dad-four claimed: "Christianity was at the forefront of how you behaved. Girls were purer back then because they're under a Christian journey and we've lost all of this."

Thomas spoke about how Patriot Platform was initially formed by a group of men from south London before other members later held further gatherings inside churches and the group held a recruitment day in Coventry on August 22. He claimed that one member was "landed on" and removed from the group after being found to be drunk the night before they travelled to Dover last Saturday.

He also claimed a prospective member was kicked out for racism and added: "Lads have had slaps.