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Airport 'threat' backfires as Tweet lands man in trouble
A MAN has been arrested under the Terrorism Act after posting a "joke" on his Twitter page about blowing up Robin Hood Airport.
Paul Chambers, 26, posted the message on the social networking site when bad weather threatened to disrupt his plans to travel to Ireland.
In the message, which he says he posted as a joke to amuse his friends, he told Robin Hood Airport bosses that they had a week to sort out the problems "otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high."
Mr Chambers, of Woodfield Plantation, Balby, is thought to be the first person in the United Kingdom to be arrested for comments posted on Twitter.
A week after posting the message on the social networking site, he was arrested under the Terrorism Act in front of his work colleagues and questioned for almost seven hours by detectives who interpreted his post as a security threat.
After he was released on bail, he was suspended from his job as a finance supervisor, pending an internal investigation.
Mr Chambers said: "When the police turned up I thought one of my family members might have been in an accident or something and then when they arrested me and produced the Twitter page I just though it was a joke at first.
"I honestly thought it would be resolved in five minutes.
"It's just been so surreal. I never thought in a million years that this would happen to me, or anyone else for that matter. I think it's completely over the top.
"Looking back on it, it was a stupid thing to say but at the time I just didn't think about it, it was just a throwaway comment."
Mr Chambers, posted the comment on January 6 nine days before he was due to fly to Ireland. He was arrested on January 13.
He has been bailed until February 11, when he will be told whether or not he will be charged with conspiring to create a bomb hoax.
Detectives have also confiscated his iPhone, laptop and home computer.
Mr Chambers added: "If they really thought I was a security threat how come it took a week for them to arrest me?"
A spokesman for Robin Hood Airport said Mr Chambers had not been banned from flying from Finningley.
He added: "The airport company fully endorses the actions of South Yorkshire Police with regards to this particular airport safety threat. Comments made threatening airport safety are taken extremely seriously at all times."
South Yorkshire Police advised members of the public to use such websites appropriately, as they are easily accessible to the public and any inappropriate use could cause unnecessary concern and lead to comments being reported to police.
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Weather for Doncaster
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
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