So we all have a laugh and a joke on Twitter from time to time. Sometimes people do tweet something that is not about Twitter itself or Social Media…. yes it can happen. But perhaps Paul Chambers went a little too far, or forgot to press the delete after.
Chambers was found guilty in May of sending a message of a “menacing character” under the Communications Act 2003 after he tweeted in frustration in January at the closure of Robin Hood airport, near Doncaster, U.K. owing to snow. “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 wrote, frustrated that his plans for a flight to Ireland looked like being thwarted.
After being arrested by police, and fined $2000, he is appealing the conviction.
“I would never have thought, in a thousand years, that any of this would have happened because of a Twitter post. I’m the most mild-mannered guy you could imagine,” Chambers said after the initial verdict. Chambers admitted that his tweet was “silly” but called the police reaction “absurd”, saying his tweet was “like having a bad day at work and stating that you could murder your boss” and that “I didn’t even think about whether it would be taken seriously.”