Trans activist wanted to ‘shame Graham Linehan into an apology’, court told

By Mathilde Grandjean, Press Association

A transgender activist sought to “shame Graham Linehan into an apology” before the Irish TV writer threw her mobile phone to the ground, a court has heard.

Linehan, 57, was involved in a confrontation with Sophia Brooks outside the Battle Of Ideas conference in Westminster on October 19th, 2024.

Brooks, who was aged 17 at the time of the incident, told an appeal hearing on Friday she approached Linehan and began recording him because she wanted “an apology and explanation” after Linehan – a prominent anti-transgender advocate – called her a “domestic terrorist” on social media.

“I wanted a response. I wanted to know why he thought it was acceptable to call teenagers a domestic terrorist, and to shame him into an apology,” Brooks, speaking from the witness box at Southwark Crown Court, said.

Linehan’s lawyer Sarah Vine, cross-examining Brooks, told the complainant her purpose in approaching and filming Linehan was to “provoke a reaction”.

Brooks denied, and added: “I wanted to shame him, not upset him, and not in the hope of a reaction – in the hope of an apology or an explanation, or both.”

Before her dispute with Linehan, there was a confrontation between Brooks and other attendees at the Battle Of Ideas conference – of which a video recording was played in court.

In the footage, Brooks appears to be holding a large camera with an attendee attempting to block the lens with her hand.

Brooks can also be heard telling someone: “Don’t touch me. F*** off.”

“You were there that day to cause disruption, to provoke and needle gender-critical people into an adverse reaction, in the hope that you could complain that they were behaving poorly,” Vine told the complainant.

“And in Graham Linehan, you found a perfect target.”

“No,” Brooks replied. “I identified him as someone who threw insults.”

During their confrontation outside the conference, Linehan was recorded calling Brooks a “sissy porn-watching scumbag”, a “groomer” and a “disgusting incel”, to which Brooks replied: “You’re the incel, you’re divorced.”

Ms Vine asked the complainant on Friday if she was “enjoying that bit” of their dispute.

“A little bit,” Brooks replied.

“It’s nice to revel in the fact that someone who keeps telling lies has been exposed to the truth.”

“The truth of his divorce?” Vine asked, adding Linehan would “supposedly” know about his own divorce.

Brooks replied: “If you speak to him, he refers to his ex-wife as his wife. I don’t think he knows.”

The complainant also denied having sought to secure a criminal conviction against Graham Linehan to gain “cultural kudos” in the trans activist community.

“An outsider might think so, but in reality, no,” Brooks told Vine.

The Irish comedy writer, who helped to create shows including Father Ted and Black Books, attended the second day of the appeal hearing in person, having previously flown in from Arizona.

His lawyer told Justice Amanda Tipples on Thursday the allegations against him were “a part of a campaign by a number of trans-rights activists – of whom the complainant is one – to discredit gender-critical activists as individuals for political ends”.

The judge was also told the prosecution would address the complainant according to their “affirmed gender name”, while the defence would refer to Brooks as male.

Linehan was cleared by a judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last November of harassing Brooks with a series of social media posts before and after the incident.

But he was convicted by District Judge Briony Clarke of criminal damage over his actions with the mobile phone.