Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been found guilty of criminal damage after throwing a mobile phone belonging to a trans activist, but was cleared of a separate harassment charge.
Linehan, 57, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court charged in connection with a confrontation at the Battle of Ideas conference in London in October 2024. He denied both allegations.
Delivering her verdict, District Judge Briony Clarke said Linehan was a “generally credible witness” who appeared “genuinely frank and honest,” and ruled that his conduct did not amount to harassment. She concluded that the complainant, trans activist Sophia Brooks, had not been “as alarmed or distressed” as they claimed following Linehan’s social-media posts.
However, Judge Clarke found Linehan guilty of criminal damage for throwing Brooks’s phone during an altercation outside the conference venue.
“The footage shows that just before the phone is taken, the defendant is angry,” she said. “I found that he took the phone because he was angry and fed up. I am therefore satisfied he was not using reasonable force and therefore find him guilty of criminal damage.”
Linehan, who flew from Arizona to attend the trial in person, denied harassing Brooks between 11 and 27 October 2024. The incident occurred as Brooks photographed attendees during a speech by Fiona McAnena of the group Sex Matters.
During the trial, Linehan stated that his “life was made hell” by trans activists and described Brooks as a “young soldier in the trans activist army.” He acknowledged throwing the phone after Brooks filmed him and questioned him about comments he had made online.
Brooks told the court that Linehan had directed personal insults at them, including calling them a “sissy porn-watching scumbag,” a “groomer,” and a “disgusting incel.” Brooks said they replied: “You’re the incel, you’re divorced.”
Prosecutors argued that Linehan’s online posts were “repeated, abusive, unreasonable,” while his defence accused Brooks of deliberately provoking and harassing him.
Sentencing for the criminal damage conviction has not yet been announced.
