An exasperated tweet by an air traveler grounded by January’s snow cost him £1,000 (US$1,480) on Monday when a court failed to see the joke in his spoof threat to “blow an airport sky high.”
Trainee accountant Paul Chambers is the first Briton to be convicted of a criminal offence on the microblogging site Twitter.
News of his conviction at Doncaster magistrates court was, appropriately, broken by disappointed and angry tweets from friends and supporters.
He was told by a district judge that his message was “of a menacing nature in the context of the times in which we live.”
Chambers, 26, tapped out on his mobile: “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!” The tweet was sent on Jan. 6 to his 600 followers.
The court was told that Chambers had simply suffered “a moment of frustration” because his plans to fly to Ireland for a blind date with one of his Twitter contacts looked ruined.
He was arrested by anti-terror police at his office a week later, after a manager at the airport, near Doncaster, found the message while doing an unrelated computer search.
The airport categorized the message as “not credible” in threat terms, but was obliged to tell South Yorkshire police, who took action.
Officers later deleted the tweet and impounded his iPhone and two computers.
He was fined £385 by district judge Jonathan Bennett and ordered to pay £600 costs and a £15 victims’ surcharge.
Chambers lost his job as a financial supervisor at a car distribution firm in Doncaster after his arrest.
Also See: Twitter followers get zapped by bug
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
Two people died and 19 others were injured after a Mexican Navy training ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said yesterday. The ship snapped all three of its masts as it collided with the New York City landmark late on Saturday, while onlookers enjoying the balmy spring evening watched in horror. “At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” Adams posted on X. Footage shared online showed the Mexican Navy ship Cuauhtemoc, its sails furled
RSS