Father Ted creator Graham Linehan said his social media posts about trans activists were in the 'public interest', after describing one campaigner as a 'deeply disturbed sociopath' and a 'groomer', a court heard.
The television comedy writer, 57, denies harassing trans woman Sophia Brooks, 18, in a series of posts last year, which she said left her 'alarmed and distressed'.
But the court heard Ms Brooks also deployed derogatory language, using one of her X accounts to refer to another person online as a 'weirdo nonce' – slang for paedophile – and wrote she 'hoped' a female gender-critical activist was the victim of an acid attack.
She denied she threatened police with legal action – after they initially said they would not pursue the matter against Linehan – in order to get 'kudos' for getting the conviction of a well-known gender identity critic.
The writer, who is behind a string of hit sitcoms including The IT Crowd, is also alleged to have damaged her phone after throwing it across the road when the pair clashed at a conference in London last year.
