METROPOLITAN POLICE APOLOGISE TO GRAHAM LINEHAN, SETTLE FOR £25,000

The Metropolitan Police have apologised to comedian Graham Linehan and reached a settlement of £25,000 following his arrest in September 2025. Linehan was detained by five armed officers at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of inciting hatred under the Public Order Act after returning from Arizona. The force acknowledged causing him "considerable distress" and issued a second apology after having previously apologised in May.

Linehan was arrested over gender critical posts made on X. Following his detention, he was taken to hospital after police became concerned for his health, though officers stated his condition was neither life-threatening nor life-changing. He was subsequently bailed pending further investigation. The police later confirmed the incident was investigated as a non-crime hate incident, a classification for alleged acts perceived as motivated by hostility or prejudice but which do not constitute criminal offences.

In October 2025, the Metropolitan Police announced it would cease investigating non-crime hate incidents to allow officers to focus on matters meeting the threshold for criminal investigation. The force confirmed it was dropping the probe into Linehan. Speaking to the BBC in September, Linehan stated he did not regret his posts, saying he had sometimes tweeted "out of anger, because of the frustration that no-one's paying attention to this issue".