Graham Linehan gets apology from Met police over airport arrest
The Metropolitan police has apologised to Graham Linehan, while the Father Ted co-creator has also received compensation over his September 2025 arrest.
Graham Linehan has been paid £25,000 by the Metropolitan police as compensation over his arrest last year.
The Father Ted co-creator, who is also behind the likes of Black Books and The IT Crowd, was arrested by armed officers at London's Heathrow airport in September when he landed after a 10-hour flight from Arizona.
Linehan, who has come under criticism for his anti-trans views, was detained by five officers on suspicion of inciting hatred under the Public Order Act, in relation to three posts on X.
On Thursday (09.07.26), it was confirmed he was received compensation and an apology from the Met police and.
A spokesperson said: "We recognise the considerable distress caused to Mr Linehan, and have offered our sincere apologies.
“This case prompted a significant change, which means the Met no longer investigates 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.”
According to The Times newspaper, the force told the 57-year-old comedy writer in a letter that there had been "shortcomings in the investigation, the arrest and the imposition of bail conditions".
A settlement was made following a civil claim, while The Guardian reports that the concerns over the investigation were mainly regarding systems and guidelines in place at the time of the arrest.
The first of the posts which sparked the arrest was on April 19 2025, when he shared a photo from a trans rally.
He captioned the picture: "A photo you can smell."
In a follow-up,, he added: "I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”
And in a third, one day later, he said: "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.”
At the time, Linehan claimed while he may have made a "bad joke", he wasn't trying to encourage violence.
In November, two months after his arrest over the posts, Linehan was cleared of accusations he harassed a transgender activist online.
He had denied harassing Sophie Brooks between October 11 and 27, 2024, as well as denying a charge of criminal damage of their mobile phone.
He was found guilty of the latter over an incident outside the Battle of Ideas conference in Westminster.
He was fined £500, and ordered to pay costs of £650, as well as a statutory surcharge of £200.
The conviction was overturned after an appeal.
During the trial, he said his life had been "made hell" by trans activists.
He claimed Brooks - a trans woman who was born a biological male - was a "young soldier in the trans activist army".
The prosecution alleged Linehan's social media posts were "repeated, abusive, unreasonable".
The pair met for the first time outside the Battle of Ideas conference, where Brooks asked Linehan: "Why do you think it is acceptable to call teenagers domestic terrorists?"
A row ensued, and Linehan grabbed Brooks' phone and chucked it.
During the trial, the Black Books co-creator was asked why he threw the phone, and he replied: "My adrenaline was up, I was angry. I guess that feels like surrender, so I threw it away.
"I didn’t slam it, I just skimmed it. It was instinctive - as soon as I did it, I thought that was a mistake."
