Precisely why it took five armed policemen to detain him is unclear. But there they were as he stepped bleary-eyed off the plane after a sleepless 11-hour flight from Arizona to Heathrow.
By the time they had escorted him to a private area, Graham Linehan's 'offence' had been explained to him. He was under arrest for a series of 'anti-trans' social media posts.
Astonishingly, this involved taking him to the airport police station where his trouser belt was removed and his bag and media devices confiscated. Then he was shown into a green-tiled cell with a bunk bed and a metallic toilet in the corner.
It was the beginning of yet another dark episode in the life of the comedy writer whose courageous and combative stance on gender ideology – some might even call it an obsession – has already cost him his career, his marriage, his friendships and very nearly his sanity.
And his detention is only the latest in a string of heavy-handed police responses over so-called 'thought crimes', with newspaper columnists, local councillors and parents on school WhatsApp groups also being targeted in recent months.
