Metropolitan Police arrested comedian Graham Linehan at Heathrow on suspicion of inciting violence under the Public Order Act for posts on X about trans people and then bailed him under investigation without charge. One post described a trans-identified male in a female-only space as a "violent, abusive act" and included the line "Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails punch him in the balls." Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley defended officers and cited existing legislation, while politicians urged clarification of the law and called for police to prioritise serious street policing over online tweets.
Linehan has said his arrest at Heathrow was related to three posts on X from April. The first post called it a "violent, abusive act" for a trans-identified male to be in a female-only space. He wrote: "Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails punch him in the balls." Linehan has been bailed under investigation and has not been charged with an offence.
In his statement on Wednesday, Sir Mark said the decision to arrest Linehan "was made within existing legislation - which dictates that a threat to punch someone from a protected group could be an offence". Sir Mark said his officers "had reasonable grounds to believe an offence had been committed," but that police more broadly had "been left between a rock and a hard place" when investigating online speech.
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