The Metropolitan Police have announced they will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents, following the case of Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan. The 57-year-old comedy writer was informed that no further action would be taken after his arrest at Heathrow in September over social media posts about transgender issues.
Linehan said on Monday that the Crown Prosecution Service had dropped the case against him. 'The police have informed my lawyers that I face no further action in respect of the arrest at Heathrow in September,' he stated. He intends to sue the Met for wrongful arrest and breach of his human rights, with the support of the Free Speech Union.
The Met explained that the controversial case highlighted the difficulty of policing 'toxic culture war debates'. A spokesperson said: 'We understand the concern around this case. The commissioner has been clear he doesn't believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates. As a result, the Met will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents.' Such incidents, perceived as motivated by hostility towards characteristics like transgender identity, will still be recorded as intelligence but not investigated.
Linehan was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence over three tweets. One read: 'If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act... punch him in the balls.' Another included a photo of a trans-rights protest with the comment 'a photo you can smell', and a follow-up: 'I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.' The case sparked a free-speech row, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging police to focus on serious issues.
The Free Speech Union's general secretary, Toby Young, criticised the arrest: 'Graham should never have been interviewed about his tweets, let alone arrested by five armed police officers and held in a cell for over 12 hours. We've instructed a top flight team of lawyers to sue the Met for wrongful arrest... so they stop behaving like the Stasi.'
