Father Ted co-creator Graham Linehan has pleaded not guilty to harassing a transgender woman and damaging her phone.

The Bafta-winning writer, who also came up with TV sitcoms The IT Crowd and Black Books, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday to deny the charges of harassing Sophia Brooks on social media and damaging her mobile in October.

Linehan, 56, who created the three-season sitcom Father Ted in the 1990s with fellow Irish writer Arthur Mathews, said in a post on X in April that the allegations were related to an incident at the Battle of Ideas conference in London on 19 October.

Court documents show Linehan is charged with harassing the alleged victim, a transgender activist, by posting abusive comments about her on social media between 11 October and 27 October, and damaging her phone to the value of £369 on the day of the conference.

Outside court after the short hearing, he wore a T-shirt with a picture of a Daily Telegraph front page with the headline ‘Trans women are not women’, and said: “For six years, ever since I began defending the rights of women and children against a dangerous ideology, I have faced harassment, abuse and threats.

“I’ve lost a great deal, but I am still here, and I will not waver in my resolve.”

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Deputy District Judge Louise Balmain told Linehan his trial would take place on 4 September this year at the same court.

Linehan has become a strong vocal critic of the trans rights movement in recent years.

He was freed on bail with the condition not to contact the complainant directly or indirectly.

Rachael Blackmore, the first female jockey to win the Grand National, announced her retirement from horse racing with immediate effect on Monday.

Blackmore, 35, confirmed the decision on social media saying her “days of being a jockey have come to an end.”

In 2021, Blackmore made history by becoming the first female to win the Grand National in the race’s 182-year history.

She rode the Henry de Bromhead-trained Minella Times to the trailblazing victory at Aintree which came 44 years after Charlotte Brew became the first woman to ride in the world’s most famous steeplechase.

The Irishwoman was also the first female jockey to win the Champion Hurdle, doing so aboard Honeysuckle, the same year as her Grand National triumph.

She then clinched another historic first when she guided A Plus Tard to the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2022.

“I feel the time is right,” Blackmore said in a post on social media.

“I’m sad but also incredibly grateful for what my life has been for the past 16 years. I just feel so lucky, to have been legged up on the horses I have, and to have experienced success I never event dreamt could be possible.”

Blackmore won 575 of her 4,566 career races. Her last victory came aboard Ma Belle Etoile in Cork on Saturday.

A power outage caused major travel disruption on London’s Tube network on Monday, stretching into rush hour.

The Elizabeth, Bakerloo, Jubilee and Northern lines were among the routes either suspended or delayed, with several stations closed and passengers forced to evacuate.

A spokesman for Transport for London (TfL) said there was an outage in southwest London for “a matter of minutes” and “everything shut down”.

National Grid confirmed a fault on its transmission network, which was resolved in “seconds”, but led to a “voltage dip” that affected some supplies.

The London Fire Brigade said the fault caused a fire at an electrical substation in Maida Vale, and it’s understood firefighters destroyed three metres of high-voltage cabling.

That came just weeks after a fire at the same substation, which saw elderly and vulnerable residents among those moved from their homes.

But today’s fire – between Cunningham Place and Aberdeen Place – is understood to have involved different equipment to the parts in the 29 April incident.

TfL’s chief operating officer Claire Mann apologised for the disruption, adding: “Due to a brief interruption of the power supply to our network, several lines lost power for a short period earlier this afternoon.”

Passengers told Sky News of the disruption’s impact on their plans, with one claiming he would have had to spend £140 for a replacement ticket after missing his train.

He said he will miss a business meeting on Tuesday morning in Plymouth as a result.

Another said she walked to five different stations on Monday, only to find each was closed when she arrived.

Lines suspended and stations shut – as it happened

“Only on the last station did I find out it was a power outage affecting the entire Underground, after I approached ticketing staff,” she said.

“Again, no announcement made. So I looked for bus alternatives. In total, I spent two hours stranded in central London. Horrible experience.

“I feel bad for people who possibly missed their flights.”

TfL staff have said they are working to restore the entire network, with some disruption extending into Monday night.