'Airport Bomb' joke man FINED! Seriously!!?

[Spiritual_Beggar]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/art...

Ok, so, remember that guy who joked about blowing up an airport because it was closed by snowfall.....


Well, not only did he lose his job because of thee arrest, a court has now fined him £385.

Not a huge amount, but that is not the point surely!!

[Spiritual_Beggar]

I KNOW!!



Seriously, I thought it was eenough of a joke that the policee got involved......

...but for thee guy to actually get prosecuted, and fined over this!!!???? That's F'in scary!



WTF is this 'Communications Act 2003'!!! So much for freedom of speech.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

Andy Zarse said:

You make public threats of blowing up airports at your absolute peril. He was a total cocktard and was lucky to get off so lightly. The Authorities are duty bound to take any such security threats seriously. Would it have been different if he'd have made the threat when at check in? Loads of aholes have been prosecuted for that, how is this any different? Right result IMO.

Edited by Andy Zarse on Monday 10th May 18:44

And yet a little bit of investigating would have shown the so called 'Threat' to be completely non-existent!


Heck, even the airport knew about it and could see it was a joke!! And yet the police couldn't?



No, just because the Politicians would have us all living in fear of terrorism.......it does not mean our civil rights should be taken away. What has happened to common sense, FFS!

It starts here......next thing you know, you mention a bad word against the police, Government, etc....and you'll find your self in front of a judge with a fine too.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

jmorgan said:

Yeah but at some point where we all start saying "ha! joker. Bit of a card that one". A real bomber makes a real threat and it is ignored.

No, I'm not saying you ignore it....


but this guy was clearly joking, and simple background check would have shown this.


I'd be slightly worried if our socalled 'Intelligence' couldn't spot the diffeerence between this kind of joke and a 'REAL' threat.





As Mr B said above;


What's the difference between making a threat like that, and say threatening to Shoot Winky?

Edited by Spiritual_Beggar on Monday 10th May 19:06

[Spiritual_Beggar]

Andy Zarse said:

Okay then, phone 999 and jokingly tell the fire brigade you're setting fire to your nextdoor neighbours house. Then see what happens...

PS I voted for Katona

Edited by Andy Zarse on Monday 10th May 21:33

You're missing the point Andy.....

He didn't threaten the airport direct.

It was a message he put up on facebook! (I believe he actually changed his 'Status' to say this.



That is in no way the same as calling up the airport and threatening them.




Let's say you're in the pub watching the footy with your mates. And you jokingly say; "if Arsenal let in anotheer goal, I'll blow up the emirates!"

That is essentially what this guy said.

Edited by Spiritual_Beggar on Monday 10th May 21:40

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Colin 1985 said:

Well he has paid his fine so he may as well blow the fker up.

edit: spelling; (i'm drunk)

Edited by Colin 1985 on Tuesday 11th May 01:43

As the great Status Quo once said;

You pays your money and takes your choice

[Spiritual_Beggar]

madala said:

....unless you are completely thick anyone with an iota of sense would not mention the word "bomb" in an airport.....tough titty.

He wasnt in an airport!

It was a message he left on facebook - on the wall/ or changed his status. He made no direct theat.



And for those saying 'its the time we live in'.............bkS! If you truly think that we should restrict our freedoms, and throw common sense to the wind because some people in this world like to threaten our way of life...........then the terrorists have already won, and we may aswell all live a in a Big Brotehr society where every aspect of our lives is monitored on camera, and everything we say must tow the Government line...........And when you hear of cases like this, we're not far from that Big Brother society being a reality.

Edited by Spiritual_Beggar on Tuesday 11th May 11:12

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Andy Zarse said:

What if the Twiitering tt wasn't the guilless idiot he appears but was in fact Timothy McVeigh from Oklahoma? He was a guilless idiot too and look what he did with some farm fertilser and a truck.

Isn't that why we have 'Intelligence' agencies though? To determine the chaff, from the ACTUAL threats?

The point is, this did not need to go as far as a court hearing, which the tax payers had to fund.



The most worrying thing I take out of this is that the so-called 'Intelligence' agencies do not appear to be as intelligent as we think. Do they panic at every single comment involving the word 'bomb'? This just means that their attention is spread out, and not focused.......which will allow potential 'real' threats to slip through if not careful.

[Spiritual_Beggar]

sonic_2k_uk said:

It's all feeling a bit like minority report these days.

I find that more terrifying than anyone joking about on twitter.

This is my point.


It seems we're all treated as GUILTY until proven innocent these days.