GRAHAM Linehan has appeared in court on Thursday accused of harassing a transgender woman.
The 57-year-old comedy writer has denied harassing Sophia Brooks on social media and a further charge of damaging her mobile phone in October.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday for the start of his trial.
According to court documents, he is charged with harassing the alleged victim by posting abusive comments about her on social media between October 11 and October 27, and damaging her phone to the value of £369 on the day of the conference.
Addressing the court, prosecutor Julia Faure Walker said Brooks was 17 years old at the time of the incidents.
She said: “The defendant, Graham Linehan, faces two charges, one harassment of Sophia Brooks between 11th October 2024 and 27th October 2024… the second charge is criminal damage of Ms Brooks’ mobile phone on 19th October 2024…
“There are some matters that are not in dispute, it’s not in dispute that the defendant sent the relevant social media posts between 11th October and 27th October, and it’s not in dispute that the defendant seized and threw the phone of the complainant.
“Ms Brooks is now 18 but at the time of these events she was 17.”
The court further heard that Linehan's posts about Brooks were "oppressive" and "vindictive", Walker said Linehan posted about Brooks "relentlessly".
The prosecutor said: "These posts were not merely irritating or annoying, but rather oppressive and unacceptable, thereby crossing the threshold into harassment.
“These posts were not provoked by Ms Brooks online in respect of anything she had done to Graham Linehan.”
Faure Walker added: “The purpose of the posts was clearly not merely to relay events, to express political opinion, to criticise, to help identify perpetrators or to try to solve any crime.
“Nor is it a case that these posts merely presented ideas that may shock, disturb or offend.
“Rather, they were verbally abusive and vindictive, and reflected Mr Linehan’s deep disliking of Ms Brooks.”
The trial comes days after Linehan was arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting violence in three gender-critical posts he had made on Twitter/X.
In a post on his Substack blog on Monday, Linehan claimed he had been treated "like a terrorist", as he shared the three tweets he claimed he was questioned over.
One of the tweets read: “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.”
Another was a picture of a pro-trans rally with the caption: “A photo you can smell.”
The third was a follow up to this tweet which said: “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed he was bailed pending further investigation.
On Wednesday, the gender-critical campaigner released an audio recording of his arrest.
He can be heard telling one officer: “I’m a f***ing comedy writer, I wrote Father Ted. Are you a f***ing idiot?… It’s just disgraceful.”
When told he is under arrest, he shouts: “Holy shit, I don’t f***ing believe it, do you know what this country looks like to America?,” before repeating “I’m going to sue you into the ground” several times.
He calls the officers “f***ing bastards” and shouts “how dare you” before they urge him to calm down.
Shortly afterwards, Linehan can be heard saying: “I’m f***ing infuriated. You scumbags are working for f***ing arseholes who go into women’s toilets.”
