The Metropolitan Police will stop investigating "non-crime hate incidents" after it emerged that Graham Linehan will face no further action over social media posts about transgender issues.
The Father Ted and IT Crowd creator, 57, was detained at London Heathrow Airport last month on suspicion of inciting violence over three gender-critical posts he had made online.
One post on X, formerly known as Twitter, 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."
His arrest after flying in from Arizona on September 1 sparked major controversy, with politicians and Harry Potter author JK Rowling among those who criticised Scotland Yard.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told police to focus on ‘serious crimes’.
Sir Mark Rowley, the force’s commissioner, said at the time that officers are in "an impossible position" when dealing with statements made on the internet.
Following Linehan's announcement on Monday that a probe into his comments were dropped, a Met spokesman said: "We understand the concern around this case.
"The commissioner has been clear he doesn't believe officers should be policing toxic culture war debates, with current laws and rules on inciting violence online leaving them in an impossible position.
"As a result, the Met will no longer investigate 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."
A non-crime hate incident is an allegation perceived by a complainant to be motivated by hostility towards a particular characteristic, such as sexual identity, but which is not a criminal offence.
Debate over how the incidents are dealt with erupted after officers from Essex Police visited Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson last year over a now-deleted tweet.
Sir Andy Marsh, of the College of Policing, warned that recording non-crime hate incidents had become a “distraction” for dealing with crime.
Ministers could be forced to abolish them after former Scotland Yard chief Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe tabled amendments to the law in the House of Lords last week.
Along with Lord Toby Young of Acton, director of the Free Speech Union, he launched efforts to change the Crime and Policing Bill that would stop requiring police to record NCHIs.
Last week, Westminster Magistrates' Court ordered that Mr Linehan's bail conditions be dropped after an application by the Free Speech Union.
And on Monday, Scotland Yard wrote to the screenwriter’s legal team saying “no further action will be taken”, although they warned that “this decision may be reconsidered if further evidence or information comes to light”.
Lord Young, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, said: “I’m glad the police have dropped the case, but it should have been obvious there was no case to answer in the first place. Graham should never have been interviewed about his tweets, let alone arrested by five armed police officers and held in a cell for over 12 hours.
“We’ve instructed a top flight team of lawyers to sue the Met for wrongful arrest, among other things. Graham deserves an apology and the police must be made to pay a price so they stop behaving like the Stasi.”
A Crown Prosecution Service spokesman said: "Following careful review of a file submitted by the Metropolitan Police, we have decided that no further action should be taken in relation to a man in his 50s who was arrested on September 1, 2025."
