It has been a few months but you may remember the outrageous case of a comedy writer named Graham Linehan who was arrested for allegedly inciting violence against trans people in a handful of tweets. This tweet in particular was deemed problematic.
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.
— Graham Linehan (@Glinner) April 20, 2025
Linehan has been living in Arizona but when he flew back to Heathrow airport in London last year, he was arrested by five officers over this tweet. He was furious and actually wound up in the hospital with an attack of high blood pressure.
It took several weeks but the absurd case against Linehan was eventually dropped and the MET police made a policy change, announcing they would no longer be investigating non-crime hate incidents.
The person who had allegedly reported Linehan in the first place, resulting in his arrest, was a trans activist named Lynsay Watson aka Alex Horwood. Watson is a former police officer who was fired for inappropriate behavior toward gender critical people in 2023.
Former PC Watson was sacked by Leicestershire Police for gross misconduct in 2023 after allegedly harassing a free speech campaigner and critic of gender ideology.
Despite having lost his job over this behavior, Watson has been hounding gender critical people online ever since. He routinely screenshots tweets and then reports the tweets to police. Complaints have been filed about his obsessive behavior and a few days ago he was arrested.
A radial trans activist named “Lynsay” Watson was arrested in Manchester, England. He hid his face. Watson is infamous for reporting “transphobic” people to the police in serial, frivolous complaints. Watson was a cop who was fired for gross misconduct.pic.twitter.com/bVe0gpJHOi
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 14, 2026
He did hide his face but this is him.
Radical trans activist Lynsay Watson, previously Alex Horwood, was arrested in Manchester, England. He tried hiding his face during the arrest but this is him: pic.twitter.com/k5XfB7GxT8
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) February 14, 2026
The Daily Mail reported the arrest.
Watson is alleged to have harassed computer games writer and pro-Scottish independence campaigner Stuart Campbell, whose account on X goes by the title Wings Over Scotland.
Mr Campbell wrote in posts to his 82,200 followers: 'So, some good news. After months of avoiding arrest warrants by hiding, disgraced former policeman and serial plaguer of gender-critical people Lynsay Watson was finally apprehended this week at Manchester Civil Justice Centre, on suspicion of criminal harassment against me.
'He was at the court pursuing one of his countless attempts to get gender-critical people imprisoned, Wings got wind of it in advance, and we alerted Greater Manchester Police who went there and arrested him on an outstanding warrant from a complaint I made last year.'
Mr Campbell added that Watson was questioned then released on bail.
As mentioned, Watson had turned up to a court hearing involving another case he was pursuing against writer Helen Joyce. Joyce is a leading author critical of the trans movement. She wrote a post on Substack about how she wound up in court, like Graham Linehan, thanks to referrals by Watson.
Regular readers will remember that in November 2023 I took part in a panel discussion at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. Also on the panel was Freda Wallace, a trans-identifying man. Afterwards I tweeted a few times – in very restrained terms, considering Wallace’s grotesquely offensive behaviour – and thought no more about it.
But unbeknownst to me Lynsay Watson, a buddy of Wallace’s and a former cop who had been fired for gross misconduct, reported me for criminal harassment for those posts. I only found out that the police had recorded my name against a crime on the Police National Database as a result of that report when Watson applied for judicial review of my home police force’s refusal to actually prosecute me, and as an “interested party” I was provided with the papers (my writeup for the Critic last year is here)...
I know of many people who have been harassed online by Watson, at least half a dozen of whom have, like me, filed crime reports. Like mine, those crime reports went nowhere because the police hadn’t been able (to be honest, hadn’t tried very hard) to find him. They have arranged voluntary interviews with him several times, but he never shows, and when they visit his most recent known address they are told he moved away some time ago.
Joyce took notes during the entire hearing and recounts what happened in detail. Check the link if you have time for all of it. But here are her conclusions about Watson's beliefs which amount to the idea that wherever any trans person is "deadnamed" any other trans person should be able to file a case in court which will result in the offender being prosecuted (and jailed). The idea that only victims have standing to bring a case doesn't apply (in Watson's view) because all trans people are equally victims.
What I took away from it all was this. First, Watson is truly convinced that “deadnaming” and “misgendering” are such serious acts that they automatically constitute criminal harassment. Second, he thinks that means any trans person has standing to complain about deadnaming or misgendering whenever it occurs and whoever is the “victim”. Third, he concludes that any police force who receives such a complaint but doesn’t proceed to prosecution is motivated by a prejudiced and unlawful determination to leave trans people entirely without police protection.
It sounded as if Watson was going to lose his appeal of the case against Joyce, but the judge didn't rule on it right away. In any case, the fact that Watson himself has finally been arrested for harassment could mean he is now going to be busy with his own court hearings.
Editor’s Note: Do you enjoy Hot Air's conservative reporting that takes on the radical left and woke media? Support our work so that we can continue to bring you the truth.
Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member