“A 24-year-old woman who posted racist comments on Facebook following the death of Drummer Lee Rigby has avoided a jail sentence.”
The Independent, 14th June 2013
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Chambers v Director of Public Prosecutions [2012] EWHC 2157 (Admin); [2012] WLR (D) 234
“A message which did not create fear or apprehension in those to whom it was communicated, or who may reasonably have been expected to see it, was not of a ‘menacing character’ within the meaning section 127(1)(a) of the Communications Act 2003. That provision created an offence of basic intent and, accordingly, the mental element of the offence was satisfied if the accused were proved to have intended that the message should have been of menacing character or alternatively, to have been aware of or to have recognised the risk at the time of sending the message that it might have created fear or apprehension in any reasonable member of the public who had read or seen it. Moreover, a ‘tweet’ sent via the social networking site Twitter, was ‘a message’ sent by an electronic communications service for the purposes of section 127(1) of the 2003 Act regardless of whether the tweet was read as a ‘message’ or as content on the website.”
WLR Daily, 27th July 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“The famous ‘Twitter joke’ conviction of Paul Chambers has been overturned on appeal, bringing welcome clarity to what is and what is not an offence of this type. On discovering a week before he was due to take a flight that the airport was closed due to adverse weather conditions, he tweeted that ‘I am blowing the airport sky high!!’ unless the situation was resolved by the time of his flight. He was convicted of sending a message of a ‘menacing character’, but has had the conviction quashed on appeal, on the basis that, as it was a joke, it was not of a menacing character.”
UK Human Rights Blog, 27th July 2012
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
“The director of public prosecutions (DPP) stopped his staff dropping the case against Paul Chambers, author of the ‘Twitter joke’ about blowing up Robin Hood airport in South Yorkshire, it has been claimed.”
The Guardian, 29th July 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Paul Chambers’s conviction shows the law’s difficulties in discriminating between tones of voice in emails, tweets and texts.”
The Guardian, 27th July 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A man found guilty of sending a menacing tweet threatening to blow up an airport has won a challenge against his conviction.”
BBC News, 27th July 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A man found guilty of sending a menacing tweet after making a joke about blowing up an airport is to learn the outcome of his challenge against conviction.”
The Guardian, 27th July 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Regina v A (B) [2012] EWCA Crim 1529; [2012] WLR (D) 199
“Whether an offence charged involved an assault on, or injury or threat of injury to, the spouse or civil partner of the person charged, so that the spouse or civil partner was a compellable witness under section 80(2A)(3) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, was to be determined solely by reference to the terms of the indictment and not by reference to the evidence to be adduced about the circumstances of the particular offence.”
WLR Daily, 11th July 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“A man who tweeted a joke threat to ‘blow up’ Robin Hood airport in South Yorkshire has lost his attempt to overturn the judgment – but will now be tried all over again.”
The Guardian, 28th May 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Twitter and Facebook are having a transformational effect on the nature of secrecy and access.”
The Guardian, 12th February 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“On the panel tonight – Carl Gardner, David Allen Green, Dr Evan Harris and Charon QC.”
Charon QC, 9th February 2012
Source: www.charonqc.wordpress.com
“Charon QC” is the blogging pseudonym of Mike Semple Piggot, editor of insitelaw newswire.
“Two senior judges have retired to consider whether a Twitter message threatening to blow up a snowbound Doncaster airport was a joke or a menace to society.”
The Guardian, 8th February 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A Doncaster man who said on Twitter that he would blow up a snowbound airport if it was not reopened in time for him to fly to see his girlfriend will appeal to the high court in London on Wednesday to overturn a criminal conviction for menacing use of a public communication system.”
The Guardian, 8th February 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A trainee accountant from Doncaster who posted a message on Twitter threatening to blow up an airport has started an appeal against his conviction.”
BBC News, 24th September 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“A man who threatened to kill singer Cheryl Cole and blow up a football stadium has been jailed for two years.”
Daily Telegraph, 6th August 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“A man who threatened to kill a top racehorse in a bid to avoid gambling debts of £55,000 has been given a 34-week suspended jail term.”
BBC News, 4th January 2010
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
