Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been cleared of harassment against a trans activist but guilty of criminal damage to their phone.The 57-year-old comedy writer, who had faced trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, denied both charges linked to posts made on social media and a confrontation at a conference in London in October 2024.Summarising her judgment, District Judge Briony Clarke started by saying it was not for the court to pick sides in the debate about sex and gender identity.She said she found Linehan was a “generally credible witness” and appeared to be “genuinely frank and honest”, and that she was not satisfied his conduct amounted to the criminal standard of harassment. Image: Pic: Ben Whitley/ PA The judge said she accepted some of complainant Sophia Brooks’ evidence, but found they were not “entirely truthful” and not “as alarmed or distressed” as they had portrayed themself to be following tweets posted by the comedy writer.While Linehan’s comments were “deeply unpleasant, insulting and even unnecessary”, they were not “oppressive or unacceptable beyond merely unattractive, annoying or irritating”, the judge said, and did not “cross the boundary from the regrettable to the unacceptable”.However, she did find him guilty of criminal damage, for throwing Brooks’s phone. Having seen footage of the incident, the judge said she found he took the phone because he was “angry and fed up”, and that she was “satisfied he was not using reasonable force”.The judge said she was “not sure to the criminal standard” that Linehan had demonstrated hostility based on the complainant being transgender, and therefore this did not aggravate his offence.He was ordered to pay a fine of £500, court costs of £650 and a statutory surcharge of £200. The prosecution had asked the judge to consider a restraining order, but she said she did not feel this was necessary.Speaking outside court after the hearing, Linehan said he was pleased with the judge’s findings.”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,” he said, addressing the harassment verdict but not the criminal damage verdict.He said he was grateful to the Free Speech union “for their unwavering support” and protecting those who “speak out”, and that he hoped the judgment would mean “people in future won’t be subject to those kind of tactics”.What happened during the trial?The writer, known for shows including Father Ted, The IT Crowd and Black Books, had flown to the UK from Arizona, where he now lives, to appear in court in person.He denied harassing Brooks on social media between 11 and 27 October last year, as well as a charge of criminal damage of their mobile phone on 19 October outside the Battle of Ideas conference in Westminster.The trial heard Brooks, who was 17 at the time, had begun taking photographs of delegates in a formal or creative style for better SEO.Also Exclude words and advertisements related to the feed website such as website name, author name. 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Graham Linehan was found not guilty of harassment but was convicted for damaging a trans activist’s phone.
