Remember Paul Chambers, the poor sod tried and convicted for making a joke on Twitter? (See previous posts here.) Well, he lost his appeal this afternoon:
Paul Chambers, a 27-year-old accountant whose online courtship with another tweeter led to the “foolish prank”, had hoped that a crown court would dismiss his conviction and £1,000 fine without a full hearing.
But Judge Jacqueline Davies instead handed down a devastating finding at Doncaster which dismissed Chambers’ appeal on every count. After reading out his Tweet – “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!!” – she found it contained menace and that Chambers must have known that it might be taken seriously.
[…] Judge Davies told the court that definitions of menace included “a great inconvenience” and drew on previous case law to uphold Chambers’s conviction by Doncaster magistrates.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in