Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has had his conviction for damaging a transgender activist’s mobile phone overturned, following an appeal hearing at Southwark Crown Court.
Linehan, 57, was found guilty of criminal damage after a confrontation with Sophia Brooks outside the Battle Of Ideas conference in Westminster on 19 October 2024.
However, Mrs Justice Amanda Tipples ruled on Friday that his conviction for criminal damage should be overturned.
Linehan, who attended the two-day hearing at Southwark Crown Court in person, smiled and turned to supporters sitting in the public gallery when the verdict was handed down.
The judge, who was assisted in the proceedings by two magistrates, said: “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 found Mr Linehan not guilty of the offence.”
Ms Brooks, who was aged 17 at the time of the incident, told the appeal hearing on Friday that she approached Linehan and began recording him because she wanted “an apology and explanation” from him.
The comedy writer, now known for his outspoken views against transgender rights, had called her a “domestic terrorist” on social media, the court heard.
“I wanted a response. I wanted to know why he thought it was acceptable to call teenagers a domestic terrorist, and to shame him into an apology,” Ms Brooks said.
Linehan’s lawyer Sarah Vine KC, cross-examining Ms Brooks, told the complainant her purpose in approaching and filming Linehan was to “provoke a reaction”.
Ms Brooks denied that, saying: “I wanted to shame him, not upset him, and not in the hope of a reaction – in the hope of an apology or an explanation, or both.”
During their confrontation outside the conference, Linehan was recorded calling Ms Brooks a “sissy porn-watching scumbag”, a “groomer” and a “disgusting incel”, to which Ms Brooks replied: “You’re the incel, you’re divorced.”
This is a breaking news story. More follows…
