Bomb threat tweeter looses appeal
12.11.10
A man who posted a Twitter message saying that he would blow up Robin Hood Airport is facing a £3000 bill after losing an appeal against his conviction. Paul Chambers, 27, a trainee accountant, said his post was borne of frustration after the airport was closed by snow in January of this year. Yesterday a judge at Doncaster Crown Court refused to quash his conviction. After the hearing, actor and Twitter fan Stephen Fry tweeted that he would pay Chambers' fine. He tweeted: ‘My offer still stands. Whatever they fine you, I'll pay.’
Mr Chambers from Doncaster, now lives in Northern Ireland. He was due to travel to Northern Ireland in January to meet a girl he had talked to online (which obviously went well, given that he is now living there!). The message he sent to his 600 followers in the early hours of January 6 said: ‘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!’
He was found guilty in May of sending a menacing electronic communication, but his barrister argued the conviction should be quashed because his tweet was not ‘menacing’. Stephen Ferguson told the appeal hearing that even the police officer investigating the case branded it a ‘foolish comment posted on Twitter as a joke for only his close friends to see’. He said the prosecution had failed to prove his client had any intention to threaten anyone or that he thought there was any risk someone would interpret the tweet in this way.
However, Judge Jacqueline Davies, who was sitting with two magistrates, ruled the message was menacing. She said: ‘We take the view an ordinary person seeing this would see it in that way and be alarmed. The airport staff did see it and were sufficiently concerned to report it. We find it impossible to accept that anyone living in this country, in the current climate of terrorist threats, would not be aware of the consequences of their actions in making such a statement.’
At his trial in May, Mr Chambers was fined £385 and ordered to pay a £15 victim surcharge. Yesterday he was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of £2600. He was said to be ‘disappointed and taking legal advice'.
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