Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has told a court he was ‘trying to stand up to bullies’ in a series of social media posts criticising trans ideology.
The Irish comedy writer, 57, took to the stand at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday afternoon accused of harassing Sophia Brooks, 18, in a series of social media posts last year, which she said left her feeling ‘alarmed and distressed’.
Wearing a grey blazer, white shirt and blue trousers, he confirmed that he has lived in Arizona for the past six months but lived in London prior to that.
Linehan told the court: ‘I just started noticing that trans activists were doing things like stopping meetings from happening.
‘I saw that they were trying to destroy women’s livelihoods.
‘I have always had a thing about bullies and the people who bully women are the worst of all.
‘It made me very angry. I felt like I had a moral duty to fight it.’
He continued: ‘There were all these things going on and I felt like I should cover it.
Graham Linehan arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London for the second day of his trial over alleged harassment of a trans woman
Linehan, 57, is accused of harassing Sophia Brooks, 18 – seen here entering court shielded by supporters
‘I wrote something like – people have been asking for my view on this topic. From that moment on, my life has been hell. This has continued relentlessly until now.
‘This has just been an attempt to punish me.’
Linehan, who also wrote the IT crowd, denied accusations that he was transphobic and wanted to ‘murder trans people’.
When asked by Sarah Vine KC defending, whether his concerns about gender ideology were the risk that it presents to the protections of women, children and vulnerable young people, Linehan replied ‘exactly’.
He said in his evidence that he started speaking out against trans ideology eight years ago – and that it has resulted in the end of his marriage.
Linehan said the press has ‘beaten him up in the dark’ and that the backlash he has received has driven him and his wife apart.
He also said that the friends he had outside of gender critical activism have disappeared.
Speaking about the social media posts about Ms Brooks, Linehan said he did not intend to incite violent action against her.
The comedy writer – seen here leaving court yesterday after the conclusion of the first day of proceedings – denies harassment
He told the court: I intended one thing and one thing alone. That the next time he came to a Let Women Speak or any event people knew to expect trouble.’
‘I wanted the police to be aware of them so at least they could not claim ignorance about what this guy was up to.
‘Every time I have gone to the police about these guys, nothing is ever done about them.’
The writer’s comments come after the court heard that Linehan had grabbed a young trans activist’s phone as a ‘reflex’ response to taunting about his divorce and family life.
He is also alleged to have damaged her phone after throwing it across the road when the pair clashed at a conference in London in October last year – charges he denies.
The court heard that Linehan described student Ms Brooks, who sat in the public gallery today, as a ‘malignant narcissist’ and an ‘absolute psycho’.
He also referred to her frequently as ‘Tarquin’, something the alleged victim told the court was likely to refer to her ‘poshness’.
A police statement read at court today described his perspective on the encounter on October 19 last year, in which he claimed he was harassed by Ms Brooks, whom he referred to using ‘he/him’ pronouns.
Linehan said today that he was acting as a ‘journalist’ in making tweets about transgender people’s ‘vindictive and aggressive’ tactics
He described himself as a ‘journalist’, and claimed that his posts on what he called ‘vindictive and aggressive trans activists’ were in the ‘public interest’.
In a statement to police, Linehan said: ‘I was first approached by Tarquin when I arrived at the venue and I was subject to a form of harassment with Tarquin approaching me and filming me at close quarters.
‘This typically involved placing a phone immediately in front of someone’s face only a few inches away and filming them while trying to provoke a reaction. People often try to block the phone and Tarquin treats that as a game.
‘He had no respect at all for people’s privacy or personal space. I had to try to ignore Tarquin as much as possible but was then confronted by Tarquin again at the end of the conference.’
The writer has previously said that his gender-critical campaigning has cost him career opportunities and his marriage – and claimed to police that taunts by Ms Brooks about this were ‘provocative’.
The statement continued: ‘Tarquin made a provocative statement about my current family position. I am now divorced and this is a very sensitive subject for me as he well knows.
‘The taunting from Tarquin was completely unnecessary. In response I grabbed the phone and threw it to one side.
‘I had had enough of the constant harassment from Tarquin and needed to stop him from taunting me any further.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court was played video appearing to show Linehan grabbing Ms Brooks’ phone
‘I did not intend to cause any damage and I do not know if it was damaged or not, it was a reflex response to provocative actions by Tarquin.
‘I accept I have referred to Tarquin in posts, but as a journalist I believe exposing the tactics of vindictive and aggressive trans activists is in the public interest.’
Sophia Brooks was shielded by activists with umbrellas, rainbow flags and what appeared to be a Palestinian keffiyeh-style scarf
The court previously heard Ms Brooks also deployed derogatory language, using one of her X accounts to refer to another person online as a ‘weirdo nonce’ – slang for a paedophile.
She also wrote that she ‘hoped’ a female gender-critical activist was the victim of an acid attack after they were splashed with soup during a rally.
Lineham’s posts started after October 11 last year, when activists released insects inside a conference in London for the LGB Alliance, which argues that trans-inclusive policies threaten the rights of gay people.
Ms Brooks was not among the suspects, but Linehan linked her to the protest, the court previously heard.
The court heard yesterday the defendant ‘approached her with his phone, recording her, calling her a groomer and asking how many she had groomed’.
Ms Brooks later challenged Linehan about why he labelled her a ‘domestic terrorist’, at which point he took her phone and threw it, allegedly causing £369 of damage.
Prosecutor Julia Faure Walker previously said Linehan ‘responded in a way which is indicative of his extreme personal animosity towards her’, adding that he was ‘clearly proud’ of what he had done.
She added that his social media posts were ‘oppressive and unacceptable, thereby crossing the threshold into harassment’.
A screengrab from a video in which Linehan is alleged to have thrown Ms Brooks’s mobile phone. He claimed to police she had taunted him about his divorce
Linehan arrived at court yesterday wearing a sandwich board bearing gender-critical statements
He was supported by other gender-critical activists and the Free Speech Union, led by Lord Young (second from left)
The court heard Linehan was interviewed under caution on February 5 this year and provided a prepared statement, in which he claimed Ms Brooks had harassed him ‘by approaching him and filming him at close quarters’.
He said the complainant provoked him and so he threw the phone as a ‘reflex’ response.
The prosecutor said: ‘In relation to the online posts, the defendant did not accept it amounted to harassment.
‘As a journalist – as he described himself – he believed exposing tactics of trans activists was in the public interest.’
Sarah Vine KC, for Linehan, took Ms Brooks through her social media activity in which she admitted describing someone as a ‘f***ing weirdo nonce’.
The court heard Ms Brooks said she ‘really hoped’ a gender-critical activist who had soup thrown over her was a victim of an acid attack instead. Ms Brooks admitted it was ‘not an okay thing to say’.
Ms Vine added: ‘As a trans activist, being able to make a complaint that leads to his conviction means you have taken a massive scalp, a medal, you have an enormous amount of kudos if you get him convicted.’
Ms Brooks replied: ‘Okay, sure.’
Ms Vine suggested: ‘When the police told you they were not going to pursue the charges, you threatened them with legal action. You weren’t… alarmed or distressed.’
Ms Brooks replied: ‘I was.’
The Father Ted and IT Crowd creator, who was backed by a number of supporters and free speech campaigners as he appeared at court, was arrested just days ago on landing at Heathrow Airport in connection with a separate case.
He was later taken to hospital in a ‘non-life-threatening condition’ after his blood pressure was said to have spiked.
The trial continues.
