Father Ted creator Graham Linehan to sue police after being arrested over trans tweets

He announced his arrest yesterday.

Linehan was intercepted by five officers at Heathrow airport on Monday and arrested over messages he posted online that are alleged to have incited violence against transgender people.

The 57-year-old described his arrest in a post on Substack.

He says that police questioned him over three posts shared on Twitter/X from April.

The Met Police released a statement that did not identify the comedy writer but did say a "man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence."

In the hours since, Linehan has announced that he plans to take legal action against the police for wrongful arrest and a breach of his "free speech" rights.

Per The Telegraph, Linehan has said: "This was a horrible glimpse of the dystopian clown show that Britain has become.

"The Free Speech Union will support me by providing lawyers to advise on a claim against the Met Police for wrongful arrest and wrongful imprisonment in the hope that no one else is treated like a terrorist for speaking their mind on social media.”

The Met Police's chief Sir Mark Rowley has also spoken out on the arrest, which he says was made on "reasonable grounds" under the Public Order Act.

Rowley added: “I don’t believe we should be policing toxic culture wars debates, and officers are currently in an impossible position. I have offered to provide suggestions to the Home Office on where the law and policy should be clarified.

“Greater clarity and common sense would enable us to limit the resources we dedicate to tackling online statements to those cases creating real threats in the real world. If agreed, we could be ready to test new approaches quickly, within a matter of weeks.

“As an immediate way of protecting our officers from the situation we find ourselves in today, we will be putting in place a more stringent triaging process to make sure only the most serious cases are taken forward in future – where there is a clear risk of harm or disorder.

“But officers across the country will have to make similar decisions in future unless the law and guidance is changed or clarified. I hope to see this happen without delay so policing’s focus can be squarely on tackling priority issues like street crime and serious violence.”