Father Ted co-creator and gender-critical activist Graham Linehan says he’ll not face any additional police motion over anti-trans tweets that led to him being arrested at an airport.
The 57-year-old Irish comedy author was met by armed police when he landed at Heathrow Airport final month from Arizona in the US and was detained on suspicion of inciting violence.
He has now posted on X, previously Twitter: ‘The police have knowledgeable my legal professionals that I face no additional motion in relation to the arrest at Heathrow in September.
‘After a profitable listening to to get my bail circumstances lifted (one which the police officer accountable for the case did not even trouble to attend), the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case.
‘With the assistance of the Free Speech Union, I additional intend to carry the police accountable for what’s simply the most recent try to silence and suppress gender-critical voices on behalf of harmful and disturbed males.’
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson stated: “After cautious consideration of a file submitted by the Metropolitan Police, we have now determined that no additional motion ought to be taken in relation to a 50-year-old man who was arrested on September 1, 2025.”
Linehan, who at present lives on the opposite aspect of the Atlantic, later declared that he not wished to return to Britain following his arrest, which was met with fury from outstanding figures resembling Harry Potter creator JK Rowling, who got here to his assist calling the detention “totally deplorable”.
Linehan, who additionally co-wrote and directed sitcoms together with Black Books, The IT Crowd and Rely Arthur Robust, was detained in relation to a few tweets that police felt warranted an arrest on suspicion of inciting violence.
Father Ted co-creator and gender-critical activist Graham Linehan says he’ll not face any additional police motion over anti-trans tweets that led to him being arrested at an airport
The primary, from April 20, stated: “If a trans-identified man is in a girls’s solely house, he’s committing a violent and abusive act. Trigger a scene, name the police, and if all else fails, punch him within the balls.”
A second tweet, on April 19, was a photograph of a trans rally with the caption: “A photograph you possibly can scent.” The third was a follow-up to this tweet that stated: ‘I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. Screw this.
The author was heard livid in disbelief as he was stopped by armed police at West London Airport.
He informed them, ‘I am a rattling comedy author, I wrote Father Ted. Are you an fool?… It is simply shameful.
When informed he was beneath arrest, Linehan shouted: ‘Holy shit, I am unable to consider it, have you learnt what this nation is like for America?’, earlier than telling them: ‘I’ll prosecute them to the bitter finish’.
He referred to as the officers ‘bloody bastards’ and shouted ‘how dare you’ earlier than they requested him to relax.
Shortly afterwards, Linehan may be heard saying: ‘I am livid. You scoundrels are working for idiots who go to girls’s loos.
Following his arrest, the author claimed he was escorted to the emergency room “as a result of the stress nearly killed me” – including that his blood stress was recorded at over 200 mm Hg by a nurse.
Linehan was arrested in relation to a few tweets (above) which police felt warranted an arrest on suspicion of inciting violence – however he says he’s now clear about them
Graham Linehan (above) posted on-line this photograph taken within the emergency room after he was examined for hypertension following his September 2025 arrest at Heathrow Airport
The author (above) appeared individually at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom final month, having been accused of harassing transgender activist Sophia Brooks.
He later informed the Instances that the Metropolitan Police’s determination to arrest him at Heathrow was the “largest mistake they might have made”.
Linehan stated he was stopped by 5 armed law enforcement officials, though it’s understood this was as a result of they had been from the Met’s aviation unit and routinely carried firearms.
The author appeared individually at Westminster Magistrates’ Courtroom final month, having been accused of harassing transgender activist Sophia Brooks.
Linehan denied one cost of harassing Brooks on social media between October 11 and 27 final yr, and an additional cost of legal injury to her cell phone on October 19 final yr.
The trial was adjourned and can resume on October 29, with Linehan launched on bail.
Tesla and X CEO Elon Musk described Britain as a “police state” in response to Linehan’s arrest at Heathrow, whereas Rowling fumed: “What the hell has the UK turn into? That is totalitarianism. Completely deplorable.”
The Conservatives’ Shadow Justice Secretary, Mr Jenrick, was additionally amongst those that responded, posting concerning the arrest: “That is ridiculous and a whole waste of the police’s time.
“Police solely reply to 1 in 5 reported shoplifting crimes, however despatched 5 armed officers to arrest a comic over three tweets. We desperately have to put an finish to this nonsense and go after the true criminals.”
Gender-critical activist Rowling jumped to Linehan’s protection weeks after he accused her of not supporting him by saying he was “cancelled” for comparable views.
He informed the Spiked podcast that she did not defend her proper to free speech when she obtained backlash for her feedback about trans folks, saying Rowling’s “silence” made him really feel “poisonous” and remoted.
Prolific tweeter Linehan recalled how, When Rowling turned embroiled within the row over the SNP’s self-identification reforms, he stated he felt like he might “lastly calm down” and “combat again” as somebody was on his aspect.
He added within the September 2025 interview: ‘And now her silence about me is simply including to the sensation that I did one thing fallacious – that I am poisonous and I do know I am poisonous, however it’s not as a result of I did one thing fallacious.
‘It is as a result of folks, folks like JK Rowling, will not rise to my protection. So it wasn’t simply [trans rights activist] aspect pushing me out.
‘It was a sense of lack of solidarity and a form of embarrassment about my presence within the combat.’

















