'Father Ted' writer Graham Linehan cleared of harassing transgender activist

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LONDON (AP) — The co-creator of British TV sitcoms “Father Ted” and the “IT Crowd” was cleared Tuesday of harassing a transgender activist on social media, but he was found guilty of damaging their mobile phone during an encounter last year.

Prosecutors alleged that Gary Linehan, an Irish comedy writer known for his outspoken criticism of trans activism, wrote “repeated, abusive, unreasonable” social media posts about Sophia Brooks. He denied the charge.

District Judge Briony Clarke said Tuesday that while Linehan's social media posts were “deeply unpleasant, insulting and even unnecessary,” they did not amount to harassment. She also questioned if Brooks was as distressed as they made themselves out to be.

But she said Linehan took Brooks' phone, knocked it to the ground and damaged it outside a conference venue in London in October last year because the writer was “angry and fed up.”

The writer's lawyer, Sarah Vine, said Linehan had “a momentary lapse of control.”

During his trial, the 57-year-old writer said his “life was made hell” by trans activists, and described the plaintiff as a “young soldier in the trans activist army."

Linehan was fined 500 pounds ($657) and ordered to pay additional costs for criminal damage. His lawyer said he planned to appeal the conviction.

Clarke, the judge, told the court her job was to deliver a verdict on the two charges against Linehan, and not on the wider public debate around gender issues.

“It is not for this court to ‘pick a side’ in any matter of public debate,” she said. “This court is not concerned with that debate and does not have to determine and nor should anything in this judgment be viewed as the court determining any issues in relation to it.”

Linehan is known for posts asserting that trans women are men. In September, he was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence against trans women, advocating hitting them if calling police and other measures failed to stop them from using women-only facilities.

His arrest over that case sparked a debate over which online comments constitute hate speech and warrant police intervention. London's police chief said after the arrest that he did not want officers “policing toxic culture war debates,” and prosecutors later said Linehan will not face charges over that case.