Who is Sophia Brooks? Graham Linehan pled not guilty to harassing transgender woman months before arrest over tweets

The Father Ted co-creator, Graham Linehan, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on his return from Arizona.

The Irish comedy writer, well-known for his anti-transgender activism, revealed in a Substack post that five armed police officers arrested him. Linehan further claimed that the arrest happened due to his controversial tweets targeting transgender individuals.  

In April, Graham Linehan was charged with harassment and criminal damage, to which he pleaded not guilty, according to BBC. The charges were based on an incident at the "Battle of Ideas" conference in October 2024. Linehan was accused of harassing Sophia Brooks on social media and damaging her phone at the London event. 

For those unaware, Sophia is a trans woman and a transgender rights activist. One of her clips also went viral in May after being posted by latsot (@latsot). Brooks was involved in a conflict with a few people at an event, while seemingly trying to capture them on camera. By the end of the video, she was escorted out of the event. 

The trans activist known as Tarquin (Sophie Brooks) trying to intimidate and provoke by disrupting an event and shoving cameras intrusively into people's faces. pic.twitter.com/Y6RPQfai1L

— latsot (@latsot) May 12, 2025

The same month, Graham Linehan appeared at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, where he denied the charges against him, per BBC. The outlet reported that the BAFTA winner was accused of posting abusive comments between October 11 and 27, 2024. At the same time, he allegedly damaged a phone valued at £369. 

According to BBC, a trial was scheduled to start on September 4, with Linehan being out on a conditional bail. The court prohibited The IT Crowd creator from contacting the complainant.  

Graham Linehan was reportedly hospitalized after his arrest, as he claims “stress nearly killed me” 

Five armed police arrest a comedy writer (@glinner) at the airport for three tweets. These tweets contained no threats, no incitement, nothing of the sort. Those who consider this a win should think carefully how enabling this kind of overreach will ALWAYS bite you in the arse.…

— Hayden Hewitt (@HaydenHewitt) September 2, 2025

The Matchmaker writer provided his side of the story in a Substack post and asserted that he was hospitalized after being apprehended by five people at Heathrow Airport in London. Linehan claimed to have high blood pressure and wrote: 

“Eventually, a nurse came to check on me and found my blood pressure was over 200—stroke territory. The stress of being arrested for jokes was literally threatening my life!” 

Graham Linehan added that he was under observation for eight hours and added: 

“The doctors suggested the high blood pressure was stress-related, combined with long-haul travel and lack of movement. I feel it may also have been a contributing factor that I have now spent eight years being targeted by trans activists working in tandem with police…” 

Linehan mentioned getting bail on the condition that he doesn’t use X. He voiced his anger in the post: 

“The civility of individual officers doesn't alter the fundamental reality of what happened. I was arrested at an airport like a terrorist, locked in a cell like a criminal, taken to hospital because the stress nearly killed me, and banned from speaking online.”  

In his post, Graham branded the UK as “hostile to freedom of speech.” While the Metropolitan police did not identify Linehan as the person arrested at the London airport, a spokesperson stated (via The Guardian): 

“On Monday, 1 September, at 1pm officers arrested a man at Heathrow airport after he arrived on an inbound American Airlines flight. The man in his 50s was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence. This is in relation to posts on X. After being taken to police custody, officers became concerned for his health and he was taken to hospital.”

The spokesperson also added that the detainee’s condition was “neither life-threatening nor life-changing.” He confirmed that the person received bail while an investigation was underway.