Graham Linehan, the co-writer of Father Ted, has been given a verbal harassment warning by West Yorkshire police following a complaint by a transgender activist that he “trolled” her.

Linehan, who declined to comment last night, was visited by police following the allegation by Stephanie Hayden, with whom he has clashed on Twitter. Originally from Dublin, the writer currently lives in Norwich.

On Friday he locked his Twitter account citing “abuse and harassment” as the reason. In the same tweet, Linehan highlighted a petition he had signed calling on Stonewall, an LGBT charity, to acknowledge the conflict that exists between “transgenderism and sex-based women’s rights”. The petition calls for a “respectful debate” on the issue, and contends that Stonewall is failing to recognise the diversity