Graham Linehan receives settlement from Met over online post arrest
Summary
The Metropolitan Police apologized and paid £25,000 to comedian Graham Linehan after wrongly arresting him for tweets seen as inciting hatred. The police decided not to continue investigating and acknowledged the distress caused by the arrest.Key Facts
- Graham Linehan was arrested at Heathrow Airport by armed officers in September 2025 over posts he made on X (formerly Twitter).
- He was suspected of inciting hatred under the Public Order Act but was later classified as a non-crime hate incident, meaning no crime was committed.
- The police apologized twice to Linehan and agreed on a £25,000 settlement for distress caused by the arrest.
- Linehan was taken to hospital after the arrest due to concerns about his health, but he was not seriously ill.
- The Metropolitan Police announced it would stop investigating non-crime hate incidents to focus on serious crimes.
- Linehan’s arrest triggered debate about police actions and free speech covering online posts.
- The Free Speech Union supported Linehan and criticized the police for wrongful arrests over social media posts.
- Two months before the settlement, Linehan had a separate conviction overturned related to damaging a transgender activist’s phone.
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