Twitter bomb joke man charged by police

Paul Chambers, the man who was arrested after making a joke threat to bomb an airport on Twitter has been charged by police.

Chambers made the comments on Twitter when he found out that Robin Hood airport in South Yorkshire had been closed because of snow.

He will now face magistrates in Doncaster on Friday on charges of using communications networks to send a threatening message.

"A 26-year-old Doncaster man has been charged with sending by a public communications network a message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character contrary to Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003," a South Yorkshire police spokesman said.

The original Twitter message read: "You've got a week and a bit to get your s*** together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high."

Chambers was reported to police by another Twitter member. He was arrested, had his laptop, iPhone and home computer confiscated, and was banned from Robin Hood airport for life.

The case has divided Web User readers, with many expressing outrage that the joke had been misconstrued and others criticising Chambers' misjudgement.

"Really - how dumb do you have to be to make jokes about that sort of thing in this day and age?" one visitor to Webuser.co.uk said.

"The arrest is bad enough, but a lifetime ban from the airport? Seriously? The UK is going insane at the moment. When citizens can't live their lives in peace because of over-zealous security forces, then the terrorists have already won," wrote another.