Writer cleared over clash with teen trans activist

Graham Linehan has had his conviction for damaging a transgender activist's  phone overturned.

Last November, the Father Ted co-creator was cleared of harassing Sophia Brooks on social media but convicted of criminal damage.

The pair clashed in person at the Battle of Ideas conference in London in October 2024, with Linehan slapping Brooks’ phone out of her hand after he saw her filming him, leading to the criminal damage charge.

At an appeal at London's Southwark Crown Court today, Justice Amanda Tipples found there was no concrete evidence the writer had damaged the phone. 

She noted that Brooks, a trans woman who was 17 at the time, took several weeks to take the device into an Apple store for repair and there was no evidence about its condition immediately before or after the incident.

Outside court, Linehan said the decision was ‘very welcome but this case should never have got to court,’ the BBC reports.

Brooks was not in court but issued a statement through a representative saying she ‘respects the legal process’.

Published: 1 May 2026