Twitter Joke Trial appeal comes back with guilty verdict

Paul Chambers, the man who threatened to blow up Robin Hood airport in Doncaster on Twitter as a joke, has been found guilty at his retrial.

The original trial was back in May, where the judge failed to see the funny side of the 'joke' tweet, which said: "Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week... otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

Chambers was initially told he had to pay a £1,000 fine and that he had been given a criminal record for his actions.

An appeal was granted and this lead to the recent retrial, which subsequently came back with the same verdict of 'guilty'.

Guilty as charged

The verdict has sparked off the #twitterjoketrial hashtag on Twitter once more, with celebrity backers of Chambers appalled at the results.

These include Dave Gorman, who said: "I can't tell you what I'd like to do to the judge at the #TwitterJokeTrial for fear of it leading to another #TwitterJokeTrial. Awful news."

Meanwhile Stephen Fry told Paul Chambers over Twitter: "My offer still stands. Whatever they fine you, I'll pay x"

After the original conviction, Chambers lost his financial manager's job; after this one he seems to have found celebrity.