A man who allegedly made a joke threat to bomb a UK airport on Twitter has been charged with sending a menacing message.

Paul Chambers, 26, of Balby, is scheduled to appear at Doncaster Magistrates' Court on Friday for a preliminary hearing after he was charged by South Yorkshire police on Thursday, The Independent reports.

Chambers allegedly made remarks about Robin Hood airport in South Yorkshire after he discovered the a flight he planned to take was cancelled, after the airport was closed as the result of heavy snow early last month.

The comments resulted in a complaint to police, who arrested Chambers and seized computers and an iPhone as part of an investigation. Chambers also received a lifetime ban from Robin Hood airport authorities.

The 26 year-old is reckoned to be the first person charged over sending offensive messages over the social networking site, the Doncaster Free Press reports. ®

Related stories

• Australian justice minister calls the Feds to finger Twitter-spoofer (8 September 2015)

  https://www.theregister.com/2015/09/08/oz_justice_minister_finds_twitterspoofer_calls_in_the_feds/

• Twitter airport bomb joke conviction binned in common-sense WIN (27 July 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/07/27/high_court_overturns_twitter_bomb_joke_conviction/

• UK High Court split over Twitter airport bomb joke (28 May 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/05/28/paul_chambers_twitter_joke_trial_appeal/

• Airport bomb Twitter joker in second fine appeal bid (9 February 2012)

  https://www.theregister.com/2012/02/09/twitter_joke_trial_appeal/

• Twitter users charged with terrorism for false tweets (7 September 2011)

  https://www.theregister.com/2011/09/07/twitter_terrorism_charges/

• Dragon Bannatyne threatens to break arms of 'Russian' bloke (3 August 2011)

  https://www.theregister.com/2011/08/03/duncan_bannatyne_twitter_break_arms_threats/

• Bomb threat forces Apple campus evacuation (28 March 2011)

  https://www.theregister.com/2011/03/28/apple_bomb_threat/

• Twitter 'martyr' takes airport joke case to High Court (22 November 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/22/paul_chambers_twitter_joke_high_court/

• Chinese bride sentenced to hard labour for retweet (19 November 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/19/china_twitter_prison/

• Twitter joke martyr loses appeal (11 November 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/11/twitter_joke_appeal/

• Tory councillor arrested over 'stoning to death' tweet (11 November 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/11/11/stoning_tweet_arrest/

• Twitter joke appeal adjourned (24 September 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/09/24/twitter_joke_appeal/

• Twitter airport bomb joker loses second job (17 September 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/09/17/twitter_joker_loses_second_job/

• Twitter airport bomb spoof joker launches appeal (4 June 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/06/04/twitter_joke_trial_appeal/

• Twitter bomb joker found guilty (10 May 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/05/10/twitter_bomb_joker_guilty/

• Twitter bomb hoax man changes plea (15 March 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/03/15/twitter_bomb_hoax_palaver/

• Twitter bomb threat joke man faces possible jail sentence (22 February 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/02/22/twitter_bomb_threat_joke_guilty/

• MoJ and police discipline Twitter sinners (16 February 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/02/16/moj_police_twitter_disciplinaries/

• Vodafone tosses out idiot tweeter (8 February 2010)

  https://www.theregister.com/2010/02/08/vodafone_tweet_again/

• Twitter hack linked to internal security breach (21 December 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/12/21/twitter_dns_hack_follow_up/

• Teen cuffed for bomb threat webcam pay-per-view (9 July 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/07/09/swatting_indictment/

• Notorious phone phreaker gets 11 years for swatting (29 June 2009)

  https://www.theregister.com/2009/06/29/phone_phreaker_sentence/