Father Ted creator Graham Linehan has been paid £25,000 in compensation by the Metropolitan Police after officers arrested him for his gender-critical posts.The 58-year-old writer was detained by five armed police after landing at London Heathrow Airport last September over three posts on X about transgender issues.Linehan, who had been flying in from Arizona, was arrested on suspicion of inciting violence and questioned after transgender activist Lynsay Watson raised a complaint.One post by Linehan, who is now a prominent anti-transgender activist, said: 'If a trans-identified male is in a female-only space, he is committing a violent, abusive act. Make a scene, call the cops and if all else fails, punch him in the balls.'Another was a photo of a trans-rights protest, with the comment 'a photo you can smell', and a follow-up saying: 'I hate them. Misogynists and homophobes. F*** em.'While being detained, Linehan suffered dangerously high blood pressure and was admitted to hospital – before being released on bail and ordered not to post on X.But he later learned he faced no further action after the Crown Prosecution Service reviewed the evidence and concluded there was no realistic prospect of conviction.Linehan then worked with the Free Speech Union to take legal action against the Met Police for wrongful arrest and breaches of his right to free speech. He received an apology in May, but has now also received a £25,000 payout and a further apology. Graham Linehan thanks the Free Speech Union in a new video message released today Linehan was arrested in relation to three tweets which police deemed to warrant an arrestLinehan thanked the Free Speech Union for their support in a video message released today, saying: 'Last year, September, I was arrested at Heathrow Airport for offending that group of men who are trying to get into women's spaces and sports.'Created a huge storm and since then I've been insulted by even more famous people. So yeah, it's been quite crazy. We sued the police for wrongful imprisonment and a few other things and they have agreed to settle.'So I'll be receiving an apology and some sort of cash stipend, which would come in very handy considering I've been on my uppers for the last few years for fighting against this madness.'The arrest sparked significant criticism, with Harry Potter author JK Rowling among those who reacted angrily – and the Met later announcing that it would stop investigating 'non-crime hate incidents'.A senior Met officer wrote to Linehan in a letter: 'Whilst there can be no doubt that all officers acted in good faith throughout and were seeking to do their best in the circumstances, the investigation identified shortcomings in both the investigation, arrest and imposition of bail conditions.'We apologise to you for those shortcomings and for the distress and inconvenience which you suffered as a result.'Lord Young of Acton, general secretary of the Free Speech Union, said: 'I'm beginning to lose count of the number of cases we've fought in which the police have arrested someone for a tweet, decided to take no further action and then had to pay them substantial compensation for wrongful arrest.'At some point you'd think the penny would drop: police our streets, not our tweets.'A Met Police spokesperson said: 'We recognise the considerable distress caused to Mr Linehan, and have offered our sincere apologies. This case prompted a significant change, which means the Met no longer investigates non-crime hate incidents. Graham Linehan posted this photograph which was taken in A&E after he was tested for high blood pressure following his arrest in September 2025 at London Heathrow Airport'We believe this will provide clearer direction for officers, reduce ambiguity and enable them to focus on matters that meet the threshold for criminal investigations.'It comes after Linehan had a conviction overturned in May after he was found guilty of damaging the mobile phone of a transgender activist Sophia Brooks during a dispute outside the Battle Of Ideas conference in Westminster on October 19, 2024.Mrs Justice Amanda Tipples ruled his conviction for criminal damage should be overturned after saying 'we cannot be sure that the damage to the complainant's phone was caused by Mr Linehan'.While filming outside the venue, the activist, who was then aged 17, approached Linehan and asked: 'Why do you think it is acceptable to call teenagers domestic terrorists?'On the footage, Linehan can be heard calling Brooks a 'sissy porn-watching scumbag,' a 'groomer' and a 'disgusting incel', with the complainant responding: 'You're the incel, you're divorced.'Last November, District Judge Briony Clarke also cleared Linehan of harassing Brooks with a series of social media posts before and after the incident.She said his posts were 'deeply unpleasant, insulting and even unnecessary', but did not amount to 'oppressive' conduct.The Bafta-winning writer was accused of harassment for branding Brooks a 'domestic terrorist', a 'groomer' and an 'incel' in social media posts.