A trainee accountant who posted a joke message on Twitter saying he was going to blow an airport sky high has been found guilty of sending a menacing electronic communication.

Paul Chambers, 26, sent the tweet after hearing Robin Hood Airport, in South Yorkshire, was closed by snow a week before he was due to fly from there.

The tweet said: "Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together, otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!"

He was arrested after police were alerted to the message and despite trying to convince them he had been joking, was charged and banned from the airport for life.

A district judge at Doncaster Magistrates Court ruled today the tweet was "of a menacing nature in the context of the times in which we live".

Chambers will have to pay more than £1,000 and is left with a criminal record.

What do you think? Justifiable penalty or complete overreaction? Let us know in the comments.