Graham Linehan overturns criminal damage conviction over phone dispute with trans activist

Southwark Crown Court overturned Graham Linehan’s criminal damage conviction on Friday after finding the court could not be sure he caused the damage to Sophia Brooks’s phone during a confrontation outside the Battle of Ideas conference in Westminster.

Mrs Justice Amanda Tipples said the evidence did not establish that Linehan was the person who damaged the device, narrowing the case to a basic question of proof rather than the wider political fallout that has followed the comedian and writer for years. The appeal lasted two days.

The incident took place on 19 October 2024, when Brooks, then 17, confronted Linehan outside the event. Video shown in court appeared to show Linehan grabbing or slapping the phone from Brooks’s hand. In the footage, Brooks asked why he thought it acceptable to call teenagers domestic terrorists, while Linehan was heard using insults including “sissy porn-watching scumbag,” “groomer” and “disgusting incel.”

The ruling matters because it turns on attribution, not on the broader dispute between Linehan and trans-rights activists. In a fast-moving confrontation, the court decided it could not safely conclude that the damage to the phone was caused by Linehan himself. That leaves a clear reminder that criminal damage convictions must be proved to the criminal standard, even when a video appears to show hostile conduct.

Linehan, who smiled and turned to supporters in the public gallery when the verdict was announced, said the case should never have reached court and accused police of failing to properly and fairly investigate. His lawyer, Sarah Vine KC, argued that Brooks was determined to see him convicted because of his anti-trans activism and his public profile.

The overturned conviction follows an earlier legal victory for Linehan. In November 2025, District Judge Briony Clarke cleared him of harassing Brooks over a series of social media posts before and after the confrontation. She said the posts were “deeply unpleasant, insulting and even unnecessary,” but not criminal harassment.

Linehan, 57, has become one of the most prominent figures in Britain’s gender identity debate, and that notoriety is now shaping how each courtroom result is received. Supporters see a defender of free speech; critics see a campaigner whose activism has caused harm. Friday’s ruling, however, was a narrower legal judgment: the prosecution had not proved who damaged the phone.