Chambers v Director of Public Prosecutions: Admn 27 Jul 2012

Appeal against conviction for sending a message by a public telecommnication network said to be of a menacing character. The appellant’s flight was delayed at Doncaster airport. He tweeted ‘I had decided to resort to terrorism’ 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!’ The officers originally involved had seen it as nothing more that a foolish comment, but he was charged on the advice of the CPS.
Held: The use of Twitter was the use of a public telecommunication network. However: ‘The 2003 Act did not create some newly minted interference with the first of President Roosevelt’s essential freedoms – freedom of speech and expression. Satirical, or iconoclastic, or rude comment, the expression of unpopular or unfashionable opinion about serious or trivial matters, banter or humour, even if distasteful to some or painful to those subjected to it should and no doubt will continue at their customary level, quite undiminished by this legislation.’ and ‘the more one reflects on it, the clearer it becomes that this message did not represent a terrorist threat, or indeed any other form of threat. It was posted on ‘Twitter’ for widespread reading, a conversation piece for the appellant’s followers, drawing attention to himself and his predicament. Much more significantly, although it purports to address ‘you’, meaning those responsible for the airport, it was not sent to anyone at the airport or anyone responsible for airport security, or indeed any form of public security. The grievance addressed by the message is that the airport is closed when the writer wants it to be open. The language and punctuation are inconsistent with the writer intending it to be or to be taken as a serious warning.’

Lord Judge LCJ, Owen, Griffith Williams JJ
[2012] EWHC 2157 (Admin), [2012] WLR(D) 234, [2012] ACD 114, [2013] 1 All ER 149, [2013] 1 Cr App R 1, [2013] 1 WLR 1833, (2012) 176 JP 737, 176 JP 737
Bailii, WLRD, Judiciary
Communications Act 2003 32 127
England and Wales

Crime, Media

Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.464815