Graham Linehan, the co-creator of Father Ted, has accused police of bias towards trans-rights activists after his conviction for criminal damage to a transgender campaigner’s mobile phone was overturned. The ruling came after Linehan was found to have damaged Sophia Brooks’s phone during a confrontation outside the Battle Of Ideas conference in Westminster on 19 October 2024.
Court Decision
Mrs Justice Amanda Tipples delivered the decision on Friday, leading the 57-year-old to smile and acknowledge supporters in the public gallery. Outside Southwark Crown Court, the Irish TV writer stated the decision was “very welcome but this case should never have got to court.”
He said: “There has been a troubling pattern of police forces around the country to ‘believe’ trans-rights activists, time and time again, even when there has been overwhelming evidence that complaints have been made against gender critical campaigners, in bad faith.”
“The police have failed in their duty to properly and fairly investigate – preferring instead to support one side over the other in a debate. All this has done is erode the faith the public should be able to have in the police. We are sick of two-tier policing and I hope with today’s verdict it will end.”
Linehan added: “I have suffered greatly in my fight to protect women and children from what I believe to be a dangerous ideology. But I am proud that I have never given in and I will not do. I have been lifted through support from friends and strangers, from women’s rights groups to London cabbies who have taken the time to stop and shake my hand.” He thanked his legal team and the Free Speech Union.
Appeal Details
Mrs Justice Tipples, assisted in the appeal proceedings by two magistrates, told the court: “Having considered all the evidence before us, we cannot be sure that the damage to the complainant’s phone was caused by Mr Linehan on the evening of the 19th of October 2024. We therefore find Mr Linehan not guilty of the offence.” The judge was interrupted when a supporter shouted “Yes!” from the public gallery. She paused and said: “There will be no more interruptions, otherwise I will ask you all to leave court.” After the judge rose, Linehan’s supporters erupted in cheers and applause, congratulating and hugging each other. The complainant was not present in court when the judge returned her decision.
Mrs Justice Tipples explained there was no contemporaneous evidence demonstrating the condition of the phone immediately before the incident, or after. She also said the report made by Ms Brooks on the evening of October 19 2024 did not make any mention of damage to her phone, but referred to harassment instead. “It is not until the 7th of November 2024 that the complainant takes her phone to the Apple store for an assessment of damage that Mr Linehan ‘may have caused’,” the judge said, quoting an email sent by Ms Brooks to the police.
She added the panel was “mindful” of the evidence given by the complainant during the trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last November, when Ms Brooks accepted in cross-examination that securing a conviction against Linehan would be “a scalp, or medal.” During the magistrates court trial, the prosecution addressed the complainant according to their “affirmed gender name”, while Linehan’s position was that the “complainant is male”.
Following that trial, District Judge Briony Clarke cleared Linehan of harassing Ms Brooks with a series of social media posts before and after the incident. The Bafta-winning writer was accused of harassment for branding Ms Brooks a “domestic terrorist”, a “groomer” and an “incel”. The judge said while his posts were “deeply unpleasant, insulting and even unnecessary”, they did not amount to “oppressive” conduct.
