Graham Linehan, the co-creator of Father Ted, “relentlessly” posted abusive and vindictive material on social media about a 17-year-old transgender activist, a court has heard.

Linehan’s posts about Sophia Brooks were “oppressive and unacceptable”, the prosecution told a hearing at Westminster magistrates court.

Linehan, 57, is also said by prosecutors to have “deliberately whacked” a phone out of Brooks’s hand as she filmed him during a confrontation about the alleged abuse.

He and Brooks, now 18, met at a Battle of Ideas conference on 19 October when the scriptwriter “approached her with his phone, recording her and calling her a groomer, and asking how many she had groomed”, the prosecution said.

Brooks subsequently called out to Linehan outside the venue and asked him why he had called her a “domestic terrorist”.

Julia Faure Walker, for the prosecution, said: “At this point Mr Linehan could’ve explained why he had called her a domestic terrorist, if indeed he had an explanation, or even ignored her … rather he responded in a way which is indicative of his extreme personal animosity towards her.

“He said ‘go away groomer’, ‘go away you disgusting incel’. He called her a ‘sissy porn-watching scumbag’ … He deliberately whacked the phone out of Ms Brooks’s hand.”

Linehan denies one count of harassing the activist on social media between 11 and 27 October last year and a further charge of criminal damage of her mobile phone on 19 October last year.

Linehan engaged in a relentless campaign on social media against Brooks, the court heard.

Faure Walker said: “These posts were not merely irritating or annoying but rather oppressive and unacceptable, thereby crossing the threshold into harassment. These posts were not provoked by Ms Brooks online in respect of anything she had done to Graham Linehan.

“The purpose of the posts was clearly not merely to relay events, to express political opinion, to criticise, to help identify perpetrators or to try to solve any crime. Nor is it a case that these posts merely presented ideas that may shock, disturb or offend. Rather, they were verbally abusive and vindictive, and reflected Mr Linehan’s deep disliking of Ms Brooks.”

A conference held by the LGB Alliance, a charity that stands in opposition to the policies of the LGBTQ+ charity Stonewall on transgender issues, was disrupted when some women released insects on 11 October 2024, the prosecution said.

“Despite there being no evidence that Ms Brooks participated, Linehan linked disruption of the event to her,” Faure Walker said.

On 13 October last year the defendant claimed Brooks was “behind countless episodes of harassment of women and gay men both online and off”, the prosecution alleged. He was said to have posted that Brooks was a “deeply disturbed sociopath and I believe he had some involvement in Friday’s homophobic attack”, referring to protesters’ actions at the conference.

Giving evidence, Brooks told the court that she “felt alarmed and distressed” at being called a “deeply disturbed sociopath”.

She said: “I was being branded as a deeply disturbed sociopath by a relatively famous person with over 500,000 followers – any of which could see Mr Linehan’s post and cause great harm to me.”

Linehan also posted about someone with the name Tarquin, which Faure Walker said was the defendant’s “derogatory term” for the complainant. Asked how the Tarquin name came to be used, Brooks told the court: “It is apparently to do with my poshness.”

Linehan was interviewed under caution on 5 February this year and provided a prepared statement.

Faure Walker said: “He said, in summary, that he considered that the complainant – whom he referred to as ‘Tarquin’ throughout the prepared statement – had harassed him, by approaching him and filming him at close quarters; he said he tried to ignore the complainant, the complainant provoked him and made a provocative statement, put the phone in his face, he grabbed the phone and threw it to the side, it was a reflex response.

“In relation to the online posts, the defendant did not accept it amounted to harassment; as a journalist – as he described himself – he believed exposing tactics of trans activities was in the public interest.”

Before going into court, Linehan posed with a sandwich board sign that said on one side: “There’s no such thing as a ‘transgender child’,” and on the other: “Keep men out of women’s sports.”