Paul Chambers’ conviction for sending a “message of a menacing character” has been overturned after two judges found he did not intend his tweet to be menacing and there was no evidence anyone found it to be so.
The Chambers case, known as the Twitter joke trial, has become a cause celebre for freedom of expression campaigners and stemmed from a tweet sent to his 600 followers in January 2010 after Robin Hood airport in South Yorkshire was closed by snow in 2010.
The tweets referred to in court were as follows:
“@ Crazycolours: I was thinking that if it does then I had decided to resort to terrorism”
“@ Crazycolours: That’s the plan! I am sure the pilots will be expecting me to demand a more exotic location than NI"
And: “Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I am blowing the airport sky high!!”
