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You Tweet! Court finds joker guilty
A TRAINEE accountant has vented his anger at being convicted for sending threatening messages on Twitter - by posting his reaction on the social networking site.
After becoming the first person in the UK to be found guilty of such an offence - when he posted a Tweet threatening to blow up Robin Hood Airport - Paul Chambers wasted no time in using Twitter to air his views about the case.
The 26-year-old hit back at the Crown Prosecution Service, claiming it had ruined his life.
He said: "It's not the fine by the way, it's the criminal record. It has jeopardised my career. Punishment not befitting the 'crime."
Chambers of Byram Court, Balby, was ordered to pay 1,000 after he posted a joke bomb threat on January 6 to blow the Finningley airport "sky-high" when heavy snow threatened to disrupt his plans to travel to Belfast.
TV presenter Jonathan Ross was one of many Twitter followers outraged by the verdict and has made a `generous' donation to the court costs. Broadcaster Stephen Fry also offered to pay Chambers' fine.
Doncaster Magistrates Court heard how Chambers - a keen Twitter user - posted the joke threat on the site's public domain a week before he was due to travel.
The message was found by airport duty manager Shaun Duffield who reported it five days later.
Mr Duffield told the court it was filed under "non-credible" - the lowest threat - and did not disrupt the airport's operations.
Chambers was arrested at work and charged with sending an electronic message of a grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character which he denied.
At his trial on Monday Chambers said: "I apologise for whatever consequences have happened but at the time it didn't cross my mind at all.
"Within the context of Twitter and my Tweets I didn't even have to think about if it could have been taken in the way it was taken."
Chambers, who lost his job, has been banned from the airport for life and was fined 385 with 615 costs.
Calling the case unusual, district judge Jonathan Bennett said: "You have lost your job as a result of your foolishness and had considerable unwanted publicity.
"Of particular significance is the fact that this Tweet was published to the public domain."
It is not yet known if Chambers will appeal against the decision.
A CPS spokesman said: "There is nothing funny about remarks of this nature as they can cause serious disruption to transport services and divert police attention away from genuine crimes. Where a complaint is made to the police and they pass a file of evidence to the CPS we will examine it. If the evidence is there, then the public interest will usually require a prosecution."
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Weather for Doncaster
Friday 25 May 2012
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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