Father Ted creator Graham Linehan found not guilty of harassment after row with trans activist – but guilty of criminal damage

Father Ted creator Graham Linehan was found not guilty of harassing a trans activist after the judge doubted the complainant’s honesty.

The 57-year-old man briefly bowed his head as the verdict was announced at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today.

But he was found guilty of criminal damage after throwing it at the 17-year-old’s mobile phone; His lawyer said he expected to appeal.

Linehan appeared in court over three days in September and October after transgender woman Sophia Brooks, now 18, accused the Irish comedy writer of harassment online and in person.

He has always denied the allegations, saying his actions were ‘reasonable’ and that his ‘life was made hell’ by trans activists, including Ms Brooks, whom he referred to using male pronouns.

Linehan’s defense team even asked the judge to dismiss the case halfway through the hearing.

District Judge Briony Clarke “It is not the job of this court to choose sides” in the trans debate, he said.

However, in making her decision, she said: ‘The complainant (Ms Brooks) was not entirely accurate. The defendant was a generally reliable witness; He was not trying to mislead the court and appeared to be a genuinely sincere and honest witness.’

Linehan, who now lives in Arizona, arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court with a suitcase in hand.

The judge said Linehan’s derogatory remarks may have been ‘extremely unpleasant and even unnecessary’, but they were not ‘oppressive or unacceptable beyond being merely repulsive, offensive or disturbing’.

He added: ‘I don’t think the complainant was as “panicked and distressed” as he claimed.’

But the judge said he did not ‘use reasonable force’ when he threw Ms Brooks’ phone a year ago.

Defense lawyer Sarah Vine KC told the judge it was “important” that people involved in the transgender debate “are allowed to use language that accurately expresses their views without fear of undue state interference in the expression of their views.”

He added: ‘The background to this case is what I can describe as provocative behavior on the part of the complainant and the making of allegations for the general purpose of scoring political points.’

The judge awarded Linehan £500 in punitive damages, as well as £650 in costs and a £200 victim surcharge, even though Ms Brooks had never repaired it. He was not ordered to pay damages to Ms Brooks and Ms Brooks’ request for a restraining order against him was denied.

Linehan has been outspoken about trans issues and even found herself being arrested by armed police when she arrived at Heathrow Airport for her harassment case; He was charged with allegedly inciting violence in connection with three posts about transgender issues unrelated to Ms. Brooks.

Prosecutors later dropped the case against him.

Linehan queued outside the court ahead of the verdict

He was relentless in his defense of women’s rights when it came to harassment and had a banner that read: ‘Men stay out of women’s sports’.

Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker said Linehan made ‘cruel’ posts about Ms Brooks and that his posts were ‘oppressive’.

The court was told Linehan and the activist first met in person outside the Battle of Ideas conference in Westminster on October 19 last year.

While filming outside the location, Ms Brooks approached Linehan and asked: ‘Why do you think it is acceptable for young people to be called domestic terrorists?’

The transgender activist told the court Linehan called them “scum who watch women’s porn”, “caretaker” and “disgusting incel” (meaning involuntarily single), to which the complainant responded: “you’re incel, you’re divorced”.

A video played to the court showed Linehan taking the complainant’s phone.

When asked why he threw the phone and did not return it, Linehan said: ‘My adrenaline was high, I was angry. I guess it feels like surrender, so I threw it away.’

He said that he did not accept that the damage to Ms. Brooks’ phone was caused by him and that he threw the phone away to avoid being harassed.

The court previously heard Linehan had posted about someone called ‘Tarquin’ on social media. Prosecutor Ms Faure Walker said it was a ‘derogatory term’ the defendant used for the complainant.

However, Linehan, who also testified, said that his ‘life was turned into hell’ by trans activists and added that the complainant was ‘a young soldier of the trans activist army’.

Referring to Ms Brooks’ use of male pronouns, he said: ‘It was misogynistic, it was abusive, it was condescending.

‘He relied on his anonymity to get close to people and hurt them, and I wanted to destroy that anonymity.’

Asked if there was any intention to incite any acts of violence, Linehan said: ‘No, because the violence and toxicity in the trans debate comes from the trans side.’

She added: ‘The nature of trans activism is that it is very masculine. He is abusive, sadistic.

‘The police are basically working for trans activists these days.

‘They don’t understand the issue and believe everything trans activists tell them. ‘Many institutions have fallen into the hands of trans ideology.’

She added: ‘I hate bullies and bullies who bully women are the worst, so it made me so angry.’

Linehan said he lost income and his marriage to writer Helen Serafinowicz because of his involvement in gender-critical activism.

He said: ‘When I stopped talking about it they went after my wife.

‘They scared him so much… I was losing all my income, and finally the pressure pulled us apart.’

Linehan denied a harassment charge as well as a charge of criminal damage.

Linehan, who now lives in Arizona, came to court for the verdict with a suitcase in hand.