Father Ted creator Graham Linehan discovered not responsible of harassment after row with trans activist – however responsible of felony injury

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

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

But he was found guilty of causing criminal damage to the 17-year-old’s mobile phone after he threw it – something his lawyer said he expects to appeal against.

Linehan went on trial over three days in September and October after trans woman Sophia Brooks, now 18, accused the Irish comedy writer of harassment online and in person.cel

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

Linehan’s defence team even made a request for the judge to throw the case out half-way through the trial.

District Judge Briony Clarke said ‘it is not for this court to pick a side’ in the trans debate.

But giving her verdict, she said: ‘The complainant (Ms Brooks) was not giving entirely truthful evidence. The defendant was generally a credible witness – he was not seeking to mislead the court, and appeared to be a genuinely frank and honest witness.’

Speaking outside court, Linehan said he was ‘very pleased’ with the verdict.

He told reporters: ‘The judge found me and the women who gave evidence on my behalf to be credible, honest witnesses, and said that my actions were not criminal and did not constitute harassment.

‘The judge commented that the complainant, a well-known trans activist, was not truthful.

‘There are a group of dangerous men who are determined to bully women and girls, and to misuse the courts and police in furtherance of a misogynistic agenda.

‘I’m proud to have stood up to them and I will continue to do so.’

He also thanked the Free Speech Union for supporting him, and said he hoped the ruling would put an end to certain trans activists tactics.

‘We have a phrase, punishment is a process, and they like to put people through these kinds of experiences, to make them frightened about standing up to them.

‘But I’m hoping that with this judgment, you know, people in future won’t be subject to those kinds of tactics,’ he said.

Asked if he had a message for Ms Brooks, Linehan replied: ‘Tell him to leave women alone.’ 

The judge said while Linehan’s insulting words might have been ‘deeply unpleasant or even unnecessary’, they were not ‘oppressive or unacceptable beyond merely unattractive, annoying or irritating’. 

She added: ‘I don’t find that the complainant was as “alarmed and distressed” as the complainant claimed to be.’

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

Defence lawyer Sarah Vine KC told the judge it was ‘important’ that those involved in the trans debate ‘are allowed to use language that properly expresses their views without fear of excessive state interference for the expression of those views’.

She added: ‘The background of this case involves what I would describe as provocative conduct by the complainant, and the raising of allegations in the service of, broadly speaking, political point-scoring.’

The judge handed Linehan a £500 fine for criminal damage, although Ms Brooks had never repaired it, as well as £650 towards costs and a victim surcharge of £200. He was not ordered to pay Ms Brooks compensation, and Ms Brooks’ request for a restraining order against him were turned down.

Linehan has been outspoken on trans issues, and even found himself arrested by armed police as he arrived at Heathrow Airport for his harassment trial, accused of allegedly inciting violence in relation to three posts about trans issues unrelated to Ms Brooks.

Prosecutors later dropped the case against him.

And he was unrelenting in his defence of women’s rights when he arrived for his harassment trial, donning a placard which read: ‘Keep men out of women’s sports’.

Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker said Linehan had posted about Ms Brooks ‘relentlessly’, and that his posts were ‘oppressive’.

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

While filming outside the venue, Ms Brooks approached Linehan and asked: ‘Why do you think it is acceptable to call teenagers domestic terrorists?’

The transgender activist told the court that Linehan had called them a ‘sissy porn-watching scumbag’, a ‘groomer’ and a ‘disgusting incel’ – meaning involuntarily celibate – with the complainant responding ‘you’re the incel, you’re divorced’.

A video played to the court appeared to show Linehan grabbing the complainant’s phone.

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

He said he did not accept that damage to Ms Brooks’ phone was caused by him, and said he threw it to prevent himself being harassed.  

The court previously heard that Linehan had posted on social media about someone with the name ‘Tarquin’, which prosecutor Ms Faure Walker said was the defendant’s ‘derogatory term’ for the complainant.

But giving evidence himself, Linehan said his ‘life was made hell’ by trans activists, adding that the complainant was a ‘young soldier in the trans activist army’.

Referring to Ms Brooks using male pronouns, he said: ‘He was misogynistic, he was abusive, he was snide. 

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

Asked if he had any intention to incite any violent action, Linehan said: ‘No, because the violence and toxicity in the trans debate comes from the trans side.’

He added: ‘The nature of trans activism is that it is very male. It’s abusive, it’s sadistic.

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

‘They don’t understand the issue and they believe everything trans activists say to them. A lot of institutions have been captured by trans ideology.’

He added: ‘I hate bullies and the bullies who bully women are the worst of all, so it got me very angry.’

Linehan said he lost his income and his marriage to the writer Helen Serafinowicz due to his involvement in gender critical activism.

He said: ‘When I refused to stop talking about it, that’s when they went after my wife.

‘They scared her to such an extent … I was losing all my income, finally the pressure drove us apart.’

Linehan denied one count of harassment and a further charge of criminal damage.

Linehan, who now lives in Arizona, arrived at court for the verdict wheeling a suitcase.