Graham Linehan will face no further action after being arrested over his social media posts about transgender people.The Father Ted and IT Crowd creator said his lawyers had been told the case wouldn’t proceed. The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed the move.
Linehan, 57, was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence when he landed at Heathrow from his home in the US on 1 September.The incident drew criticism of the police and government from some politicians and free-speech campaigners.Met Police said today it would stop investigating “non-crime hate incidents” to “reduce ambiguity” and “provide clearer direction for officers”.
Posting on X, Linehan announced : “After a successful hearing to get my bail conditions lifted (one which the police officer in charge of the case didn’t even bother to attend) the Crown Prosecution Service has dropped the case.”With the aid of the Free Speech Union, I still aim to hold the police accountable for what is only the latest attempt to silence and suppress gender critical voices on behalf of dangerous and disturbed men.”
The union said it had hired a “top flight team of lawyers to sue the Met for wrongful arrest, among other things”.”The police need to be taught a lesson that they cannot allow themselves to be continually manipulated by woke activists,” it added.
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson confirmed “no further action should be taken” after a review of the police case file.
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Linehan said he had to be taken to hospital on the day of his arrest. Pic: PA
In one of his posts, Linehan wrote: “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.”Another was a photo of a trans-rights protest, with the comment “a photo you can smell”, and a follow-up post saying: “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”He said on his blog that five armed officers were involved in his arrest and that he had to go to A&E after his blood pressure reached “stroke territory” during his interrogation.Read more:Linehan: Satire ‘dying’ and Father Ted wouldn’t be made todayWhat you can’t say online
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Police said the officers’ guns were never drawn and were only present as Linehan was detained by the aviation unit, which routinely carries firearms.A Met Police statement after the case was dropped acknowledged “concern” around Linehan’s arrest.It added: “The commissioner has been clear he doesn’t believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position.”As a result, the Met will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents.”We believe this will provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations.”JK Rowling, who’s regularly shared her views on women’s rights in relation to transgender rights, was among those who had criticised the arrest, calling it “utterly deplorable”.Reform’s Nigel Farage, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, and senior Tory Sir James Clevery were among the politicians who also hit out at the treatment of Linehan.