Twitter 'bomb threat' appeal
05.06.10
Paul Chambers, the twenty-six-year-old former trainee accountant who was fined £1000 after posting a message on Twitter about blowing up Robin Hood Airport, is to appeal against his conviction. He was found guilty in May of sending a message of a ‘menacing character’ under the Communications Act 2003 after he tweeted in frustration in January at the closure of the airport by snow.
He wrote: ‘Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!’, because he was frustrated that his plans for a flight to Northern Ireland to see a girl he had met online looked like being thwarted.
The appeal, which is likely to be heard next month or August, is being coordinated by Allen Green, a prominent lawyer who writes the Jack of Kent blog, and will be led by Stephen Ferguson, a leading defence barrister who is being paid via a defence appeal fund started on Twitter for Mr Chambers.
His solicitor in the initial case argued that the tweet was a ‘Basil Fawlty’ outburst – immature, tasteless, unacceptable, but not criminal. The airport itself described the message as ‘not credible’ as a threat, and its operations were not disrupted, but it was obliged to tell South Yorkshire police. They, the CPS and the judget took a different view.
After the initial verdict, Mr Chambers admitted that his tweet was ‘silly’ but called the police reaction ‘absurd’, saying it was ‘like having a bad day at work and stating that you could murder your boss’ and that ‘I didn't even think about whether it would be taken seriously.’
He was due to fly over to Belfast to meet a girl he met online (@crazycolours), whom he has since begun dating.
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