Twitter airport 'joke' trial heads to the High Court

A man who was convicted and fined for a Twitter message threatening to blow up an airport has said he will take his case to the High Court.

Paul Chambers was convicted in May for sending a menacing electronic communication.

A recent appeal failed to overturn the conviction, sparking outrage amongst Twitter users.

The 27-year-old accountant will now be represented by high-profile human rights lawyer Ben Emmerson.

The challenge will centre on whether or not section 127 of the Communications Act, under which he was convicted, was "appropriately applied".

Mr Chambers and his lawyers have until 2 December to challenge the conviction.

His lawyers regard Mr Chambers' conviction as a test case, as it was the first time that the Communications Act was applied to an offence on a social network.

"We want to establish what constitutes a menacing communication, what should be the level of intent required for the offence to be committed, and whether or not Paul's message was sent by means of a public electronic communications network," said David Allen Green, his solicitor.

Doncaster Crown Court recently upheld his original conviction causing a wave of outrage on Twitter, with thousands of supporters retweeting Chambers' message, which read: "Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

The so-called "I'm Spartacus" campaign was inspired by the famous scene in the 1960s blockbuster, when slaves stood up one by one to claim "I'm Spartacus" in order to save their fellow gladiator from detection.