This is insanity. Glad to see the police and the CPS are using their time wisely

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/may/11/tweet-joke-criminal-record-airport

Do you reckon many members of Al-Quieda Tweet their terrorist intentions very often

A Chinese mate once made a similar comment on facebook about a firm that had ripped him off.

It was rather disheartening to explain to a Chinese national that you can't say certain things in the UK, otherwise there's a likelihood of men with guns coming for you in the middle of the night.

Yes this conviction is wrong. It's a bit despairing when society does this. Lets hope the new broom will sweep this away.

😯

Runs off to check twitter posts……………….

The bloke is unlikely to lose out severely due to this conviction, which he has a chance to appeal. The whole world knowing he is a dick may be harder to shake off.

Problem is how to discern between those who are serious and those who are just venting.

Shouldn't this be on the 'what Labour did for us' thread? 🙂

So what choice did the police have in this matter? Does anyone seriously believe that they can allow comments like that just to pass unquestioned?

I'm not feeling sympathetic to this story. If you threaten to blow up a public place, given the security shroud we're now constantly under, then you have to expect it to be dealt with by the authorities in a proper manner.

Investigated maybe but prosecuted? seriously?

Problem is how to discern between those who are serious and those who are just venting.

I reckon a simple rule of thumb would be that if you tell the world you're about to blow an airport up in a weeks time, then… reallly?…. you're probably not

midlifecrashes – Member

The bloke is unlikely to lose out severely due to this conviction, which he has a chance to appeal.

He's already lost his job, cannot now follow his chosen career and has been fined £1000. So not too severely.

Still at least we can all sleep soundly with the CPS protecting us from the terrorist threat. What's Bin Laden's name on Twitter?

OK. In that case I'm going to blow up the houses of parliament next tuesday morning as I am dissatisfied with the outcome of the election

So what choice did the police have in this matter? Does anyone seriously believe that they can allow comments like that just to pass unquestioned?

The same choice that they have as to not stop every person who exceeds 70mph on a motorway – that of discretion.

I reckon a simple rule of thumb would be that if you tell the world you're about to blow an airport up in a weeks time, then… reallly?…. you're probably not

Plenty of the school-shoot-em-ups have told people they were going to and people ignored them as idle threats, IIRC.

He's already lost his job, cannot now follow his chosen career and has been fined £1000. So not too severely.

Actually he said he "left his job" not "was fired".

The same choice that they have as to not stop every person who exceeds 70mph on a motorway – that of discretion.

They don't have that discretion if someone in the public forces their hand by highlighting it. If I were to stand next ot a cop with a radar gun and point out every driver doing 40 in a 30 he'd be fairly compelled to pull some or all of them I'd say?

Actually he said he "left his job" not "was fired".

The criminal conviction stops him qualifying as an accountant. Although I guess you could view that as a blessing.

OK. In that case I'm going to blow up the houses of parliament next tuesday morning as I am dissatisfied with the outcome of the election

Shhhhh!!! ntreid will grass you up. Anyway you'd have to get in line, I'm first. 😉

So if someone does want to blow up an airport, all they have to do is tweet it and no-one'll stop them, binners? Think about it.

The chap's terrified of speaking his mind? Bollocks. He shouldn't publish stupid rants threatening to do bad things, but he can speak his mind.

If I were to stand next ot a cop with a radar gun and point out every driver doing 40 in a 30 he'd be fairly compelled to pull some or all of them I'd say?

I'd say you be told to 'move along now'.

Bit a daft thing to do though and yes slightly over the top reaction maybe.

I'm gonna report binners for his comment above……. 😀

It'll be like an STW social experiment…..!

Surely a stern ticking off would have sufficed after a look-see into his comings and goings, e-mails and just asking the bloke why he made the comment etc.

NUTS.

So if someone does want to blow up an airport, all they have to do is tweet it and no-one'll stop them, binners? Think about it.

I've thought about it – it's stupid.

BTW Is anyone who has read this thread and not reported binners to the police yet is complicit in his offence?

Edit/ Well at least Stumpy's not going to prison 🙂

If my career relied on my having no crim convictions I'd be damn careful not to get any. Including idle bomb threats.

There have been several well publicised convictions along the same lines ie. "I've got a gun/bomb, heehhee……..".

Utter, utter stupidity. No sympathy from me and especially not funny if you happen to be waiting for a plane when it has to be investigated.

Well all of London has to be shut down next week because of binners threat.
That's a lot of inconvenienced people.

Most of all, this demonstrates the danger of a parliament so dominated by one party and its ideology of legislating for everything, that crass and dangerous laws like this which operate on a strict liability basis can be passed.

It is more telling that those who would protect us are more taken with the opportunity to fulfil such fatuous legislation that they have entirely failed to consider the bigger picture.

Moreover, even if he did genuinely intend to blow up the airport, what value is there in prosecuting him for stating his intentions? Just because schoolkids have advertised that they intended to shoot their classmates and teachers does not mean that a prosecution for publiscing this aim would necessarily prevent them from seeing it through.

Sadly, though the New Labour years may have brought much good to the nation, pernicious laws like this – something I would have expected more of the Michael Howard era – have shown how dangerous and unchecked government can be.

They don't have that discretion if someone in the public forces their hand by highlighting it. If I were to stand next ot a cop with a radar gun and point out every driver doing 40 in a 30 he'd be fairly compelled to pull some or all of them I'd say?

Cop is under no legal obligation to pull anyone over: discretion to stop/arrest can't be forced by or delegated to a third party. Same goes for CPS. Politically, it's a different question.

Woody – agreed. If you turn up at an airport & they ask whether you have anything in your bag you shouldn't (or whatever they ask) and you say "Actually, I have a bomb" – then you are an idiot & you deserve all you get.

But, applying some context to this guy's statement he was clearly frustrated by the snowed-in airport & while it was perhaps a sensible idea to at least look into it & give the guy a stern talking to, I don't think it should have gone through all the courts.

IM

You could be right 8)

Its an outrageous misuse of the legislation and a total waste of the court's time.

It is prosecution for a thought crime, and the thought wasn't even a genuine thought.

Stumpy

I completely agree. There was a case not too long ago with a woman who sent a text or was overheard on the phone saying something similar in jest who got fined. I'll see if I can find some details.

If anyone's got any importantappointments in London on Tuesday, I could change the time of my planned assault on the very fabric of democracy to something more convenient.

I wouldn't want to put anyone to any trouble

Binners – you are going to become the mountain biking, Guy Fawkes-imitating apocryphal successor to the "Grateful Terrorist" libel: I was in a petrol station when a Muslim man was short 20p, I gave it to him and he turned around to me and said "Thank you so much, my friend, since you have been so kind to me I will repay you with a warning: stay away from Guildford town centre on Saturday night". "Why?" I said, "is there going to be a bomb?" He replied, "no, it's just a **** dump…"

Indeed it does seem something of an over-reaction ultimately, investigation would have sufficed I'm sure. The problem is you never know how stubborn and idiotic he has been throughout the process, at which point the police have decided to make him an example. Whenever I've dealt with police they were perfectly reasonable people and providing I didn't treat them like idiots or get bitchy and "I know my rights" they just raised an eyebrow and left. I suspect there has been more to it than our writer friend admits.

Similar here

Again

Another

Getting boring now

Some people just never learn 🙄

Go Binners !

Serious qestion: how is the performance of the CPS measured?

I suspect this was an easy and very cheap case to prosecute, with a very high likelihood of securing a conviction. I don't know, but I strongly suspect that makes it highly likely to be prosecuted because it helps their figures.

Still idiotic.

Woody – Member
Similar here

Again

Another

Getting boring now

Some people just never learn

All those examples are of people at an airport making a 'joke' to security staff about having a bomb. Most people would acknowledge that is a stupid thing to do.

In the original example the guy made a comment on Twitter. Not really the same thing is it.

Binners – it's not 5th November yet 🙂

Does anyone seriously believe that they can allow comments like that just to pass unquestioned?

If you read the article, Paul Chambers himself suggested they should have just paid him a visit and chatted with him about his errors. The chief of South Yorkshire Police is even on camera admitting it wasn't a genuine threat so it seems very odd they decided to charge him. Even odder he was found guilty of a crime.

My business partner was on local telly discussing the case on Monday night…

He's not posted for 31 minutes now. Perhaps they've got him?

I'm back again I was just lugging my bags of fertilizer into the van. I might have to cancel the planned devastation, mutilation, widescale death and carnage now though. I seem to have put my back on the strairs