Man arrested and banned from Robin Hood Airport over online bomb ‘joke’
18.01.10
A man was arrested under the Terrorism Act and issued with a lifetime ban from Robin Hood Airport after joking on Twitter that he would blow it ‘sky high’ if his flight was delayed, the Independent reports. Paul Chambers made the comment on January 6 after snowfall threatened to delay his plans to travel to Ireland on January 15. He wrote: ‘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!!’
But while his friends may have enjoyed the joke, someone alerted the police, who arrived on Mr Chambers' doorstep on January 13. He told the newspaper: ‘My first thought upon hearing it was the police was that perhaps a member of my family had been in an accident. Then they said I was being arrested under the Terrorism Act and produced a piece of paper. It was a print-out of my Twitter page. That was when it dawned on me.’
He was arrested under the Terrorism Act on suspicion of conspiring to create a bomb hoax and taken into police custody where he was questioned for 7 hours. He said: ‘I had to explain Twitter to them in its entirety because they'd never heard of it. Then they asked all about my home life, and how work was going, and other personal things. The lead investigator kept asking, 'Do you understand why this is happening?' and saying, 'It is the world we live in'.’
Mr Chambers was eventually released on bail until February 11 pending further enquiries. His Twitter post was deleted and his laptop, iPhone and home computer confiscated. He was also banned from Robin Hood airport for life. He is thought to be the first person in this country to have been arrested for comments on Twitter, although cases have been reported in the United States.
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