Twitter 'bomb threat' man guilty; fined £1000
11.05.10
A man who posted a message on Twitter saying he was going to blow Robin Hood Airport ‘sky high’ has been found guilty of sending a menacing electronic communication and fined £1000. Paul Chambers, 26, said he sent the Tweet in a moment of frustration after finding out that the airport was closed by snow in January. A district judge ruled the Tweet was ‘of a menacing nature in the context of the times in which we live’. The trainee accountant from Balby, Doncaster, who has lost his job as a result of the incident, was ordered to pay a fine of £385, a £15 victims surcharge and £600 costs.
The Tweet was sent to his 600 followers in the early hours of January 6 from his iphone saying: ‘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!’ Airport staff were alerted to the message when off-duty manager Shaun Duffield searched for ‘Robin Hood Airport’ looking for a new airport Twitter page. He alerted airport security who had to pass it on to police Special Branch. The court heard the Tweet had no operational effect on the airport.
Mr Chambers was arrested at his workplace at a car distribution firm in Sandtoft, near Doncaster, where he was a finance supervisor. He said he had no idea anyone at Robin Hood Airport would see the Tweet and it never crossed his mind anyone might take it seriously. He told the court: ‘I was disappointed and frustrated that the airport was closed. I just sent out a message to Twitter. My followers had been following how I was going to fly out to Northern Ireland and knew how much I was looking forward to it.’
He was asked if he understood the airport had to take threats seriously, whatever the context, and replied: ‘I do now. I apologise for whatever consequences have happened but at the time that was not my intention at all. It was innocuous hyperbole.’
Richard Haigh, defending, told the court the Tweet had to be seen in the context of the language and styles of the social networking world. He described it as a ‘Fawltyesque’ outburst - referring to the rants of the TV hotelier Basil Fawlty. He said the message could be seen as ‘immature’, ‘tasteless’ or ‘unacceptable’, but not criminal.
But district judge Jonathan Bennett found Chambers guilty of sending a message by means of a public electronic message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character contrary to the Communications Act 2003. He said: ‘I am satisfied the defendant was aware that this was of a menacing nature and I find him guilty of the offence.’
Mr Chambers said after that he did not want to comment but confirmed he was considering an appeal. He told his followers via Twitter: ‘Currently considering an appeal. Half of me just wants it to be over, the other half is indignant.'
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