The \u201ctwitter joke trial\u201d reached the appeal court today, with the lawyer for accountant Paul Chambers arguing that his conviction for sending a \u201cmenacing\u201d tweet was \u201ca steamroller to crack a very small nut\u201d.<\/p>\n
Chambers, 28, is appealing his conviction for sending a joke tweet in early 2010 claiming that he would blow Robin Hood airport \u201csky high\u201d if his planned trip to Northern Ireland to visit his now-fiancee was affected by weather conditions.<\/p>\n
Ben Emmerson QC, acting for Chambers, said that Chambers\u2019s conviction did not make sense either as punishment or deterrent.<\/p>\n
Emmerson told the court \u201cA message intended as a joke, in a context where there is no public order threat where those who read it did not see it as a credible threat should not be an offence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robert Smith QC, acting for the Crown Prosecution Service, said that the tweet had not been seen as a joke by airport staff.<\/p>\n
He added that the message contained no clue of the circumstances leading to the \u201cmenacing\u201d tweet, and that the airport and police could not have known it was a joke until Chambers had been arrested and questioned.<\/p>\n
The CPS argued that despite the fact that Chambers was being punished for being foolish, it was nonetheless important that there should be a deterrent to the sending of potentially threatening messages.<\/p>\n