Graham Linehan, the co-creator of Father Ted, has been awarded £25,000 in compensation and received an apology from the Metropolitan Police following his arrest at Heathrow Airport last September over gender-critical posts on X.
The 57-year-old was detained by armed officers after a ten-hour flight from Arizona and held for 12 hours at a police station. He was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence in relation to three posts, including one that said: “If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and, if all else fails, punch him in the balls.”
A Met Police spokesperson stated on Thursday: “We recognise the considerable distress caused to Mr Linehan, and have offered our sincere apologies. This case prompted a significant change, which means the Met no longer investigates non-crime hate incidents.” The force also accepted “shortcomings in the investigation, the arrest, and the imposition of bail conditions.”
The arrest drew political criticism, with Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch calling it “thought-policing” and questioning the deployment of five officers for a tweet. Linehan had earlier insisted his comments were a “bad joke” and not intended to incite violence; the investigation was dropped in October, and bail conditions prohibiting him from posting on X were removed.
Separately, Linehan was cleared last November of harassing transgender activist Sophia Brooks on social media but was convicted of criminal damage to her phone, a decision later overturned on appeal. He was fined £500 plus costs in the original ruling.
