A trans activist Graham Linehan believes could be responsible for his arrest is a disgraced police officer, it was revealed today.
Lynsay Watson, 58, was sacked for gross misconduct by Leicestershire Constabulary in October 2023 after trolling another free speech campaigner online, branding him a woman beater and a Nazi.
Watson has also been behind a large number of legal challenges related to gender and trans rights, including against three police forces, British Transport Police Federation and the Ministry of Defence.
After Graham Linehan’s controversial arrest by armed police this week he suggested the activist may have been involved.
‘At one point, I said, “I bet I know who made this complaint Lindsay (sic) Watson”,’ he tweeted in the aftermath.
Graham Linehan appeared to accuse Lynsay Watson of being involved in his arrest
Mr Linehan arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today for a case separate to his arrest this week
The Daily Mail has made attempts to contact Lynsay Watson, who has not responded.
Five armed officers arrested Mr Linehan at Heathrow on Monday on suspicion of inciting violence over three messages he posted on Twitter/X in April.
The tweets included one in which he joked that women should punch transgender women ‘in the balls’ if they use female-only spaces.
The Father Ted creator was flying to the UK for an appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today, over a separate matter.
He faces charges of harassing a transgender activist and damaging her mobile phone, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
The 57-year-old comedy writer has denied one count of harassing transgender activist Sophia Brooks on social media and a further charge of damaging her mobile phone in October.
Linehan, wearing a white shirt, grey jacket and dark trousers, appeared in the dock at the court on Thursday and spoke to confirm his identity.
Julia Faure Walker, prosecuting, said: ‘The defendant, Graham Linehan, faces two charges, one harassment of Sophia Brooks between October 11 2024 and October 27 2024… the second charge is criminal damage of Ms Brooks’s mobile phone on October 19 2024.’
Watson hit the headlines two years ago after being sacked.
The 58-year-old sent former police officer Harry Miller more than 1,200 messages over an 18-month period, describing him as a Fascist and a bigot and labelled his campaign group Fair Cop ‘domestic terrorists’.
Ex-PC Watson targeted Mr Miller because his views about gender identity were ‘in direct contradiction to her own’ a police misconduct panel was told.
In the messages Watson made ‘factual assertions that Mr Miller was violent towards women’.
The panel heard Watson initially sent messages as a police officer – prompting Mr Miller to complain to Leicestershire Police.
Watson spoke to a senior officer who advised to post anonymously instead using a pseudonym, a disciplinary panel was told.
Lynsay Watson sent former police officer Harry Miller (pictured) more than 1,200 messages over an 18-month period. It led to Watson’s sacking
Watson went on to set up at least four different accounts with fake names, including one claiming to be a retired officer from another force as well as a Home Office adviser on policing and transgender issues with a masters in legal studies.
Watson, a former nurse, admitted gross misconduct but denied breaching standards relating to honesty and integrity.
Force solicitor Liz Briggs, outlining the case, told the panel it was clear Watson and Mr Miller were at ‘polar opposites’ in their views about gender ideology.
She said Watson was ‘entirely entitled to strongly disagree with Mr Miller and of course vice versa’ but as a police officer, must treat the public with respect and courtesy.
She said the messages were ‘derogatory and abusive’.
Mrs Briggs said the messages were ‘intentional, deliberate, targeted and planned’.
She added: ‘An officer who is abusive towards individuals when their ideologies clash is undoubtedly going to cause significant harm to public confidence.’
Watson claimed to be acting on behalf of the persecuted LGBTQ community and posted anonymously to gather evidence about unknown officers, believing they were members of Fair Cop.
But panel chair Kate Meynell, Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire police, said that when considering the contents of the post it ‘is not clear how they would be a way of gathering evidence’.
Ms Meynell said: ‘I find that the officer’s conduct does amount to gross misconduct. It was inevitable PC Watson’s conduct would impact on the reputation of Leicestershire police and police generally.’
She said she accepted that Watson had ‘deeply held views on the subject’.
But Ms Meynell said Watson’s conduct ‘had a significant effect on the reputation of the force, policing generally and our public trust’.
