Graham Linehan says he was arrested for tweets about trans people after landing at Heathrow

"I promise you, I am not making this up."

The comedy writer, who also created Black Books and The IT Crowd, says that he was arrested at Heathrow Airport, reports The Telegraph.

In a lengthy post shared to his Substack, the writer who has become a critic of the trans rights movement in recent years, said that he was arrested and detained after returning from Arizona.

In the post, he wrote: "The moment I stepped off the plane at Heathrow, five armed police officers were waiting. Not one, not two – five. They escorted me to a private area and told me I was under arrest for three tweets.

“In a country where paedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilised five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet.

“I promise you, I am not making this up.”

Linehan says that the posts he was arrested for were: “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.”

In another he shared a picture of what appears to be a trans-rights demonstration accompanied by the caption “a photo you can smell”.

He followed that post up with the comment: “I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em”.

Linehan claimed that he was taken off the plane, placed in a van and taken to a police station at Heathrow. After being released, he said he was told that he was not allowed to go on X.

Linehan faces trial at Westminster magistrates' court on Thursday over two separate charges.

The first is of harassing transgender activist, Sophia Brooks. The other is of damaging Brooks' mobile phone in October.