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`Twitter joke' trial brought fairytale ending for Co Down woman

Sarah and Paul Chambers-Tonner on their wedding day
Sarah and Paul Chambers-Tonner on their wedding day Sarah and Paul Chambers-Tonner on their wedding day

IT started as one of the first ever `Twitter storms' but ended in a real-life fairytale for one Co Down woman and her virtual suitor.

Yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of the end of a Kafkaesque nightmare for Sarah and Paul Chambers-Tonner that included anti-terror police raids, job losses, flying bans and two-and-a-half years of litigation.

It all began during a cold snap in January 2010, when Robin Hood Airport in South Yorkshire was one of a number of airpirts forced to cancel flights.

Among those hoping to travel in the coming days was 28-year-old Paul Chambers, planning a trip to Gilford, Co Down to visit Sarah Tonner.

The pair were in the early stages of a virtual flirtation, having connected via Twitter and met once at a `tweet-up' with fellow users in a pub seven months earlier.

Tweets, texts and telephone calls had characterised their chaste courtship until this point, but both were keen to see if they could make a go of a long-distance relationshi

Both were keen to see if they could make a go of a long-distance relationship.

Fearing delay, Mr Chambers fired off a tweet to his 600 followers saying: "Crap! Robin Hood Airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your s*** together otherwise I am blowing the airport sky high!!"

Sarah recalled: "I initially thought, 'This is a public declaration of affection', like he was saying how keen he was to come over and see me."

However, a week later, an off-duty manager at the airport found the message during an unrelated computer search and reported to airport security who recorded it as `not credible' as a threat.

Protocols meant that police had to be informed and the would-be Romeo was arrested at his office by anti-terror police.

His house was also searched and his mobile phone, laptop and desktop hard drive were confiscated.

On the other side of the Irish Sea, the sudden phone silence led Sarah to fear he had suddenly got cold feet.

"I hadn't heard from him all day. We used to text all the time and all of a sudden he went quiet. I thought `He's changed his mind' and left voicemail where I called him everything.

"When he finally called and said he'd been arrested under anti-terrorism laws I said `If you expect me to believe that...', but then I could tell by his voice he was serious.

"Then all I could think was that I had retweeted and what if I was arrested too? I was a single mother and what would happen to my son?"

Paul had been given a life ban from the airport and told he could not fly, so Sarah travelled to see him instead.

Three-year-old Jesse Chambers-Tonner, who people joked should have been called 'Robin'
Three-year-old Jesse Chambers-Tonner, who people joked should have been called 'Robin' Three-year-old Jesse Chambers-Tonner, who people joked should have been called 'Robin'

In due course, Paul was charged with`sending a public electronic message that was grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character contrary to the Communications Act 2003' and was found guilty at Doncaster magistrates' court.

He was eventually found guilty at Doncaster magistrates' court of sending a message of a 'menacing character'.

There followed two years in limbo for the couple as he tried to appeal the conviction.

"Paul was sacked from two jobs because of the trial. He worked in accounts and you can't work in the financial sector if you have a conviction," Sarah said.

However, if the wheels of justice were grinding slowly, the course of true love was speeding along.

"I went over to visit him and we became a couple and he basically came over to me as he didn't have a job to keep him in Doncaster and within a couple of months we'd moved in together."

Paul got a job at Craigavon Borough Council, but, as his attempts to appeal his conviction garnered media attention, his employment was reviewed and he was released from service.

At the same time, Sarah was made redundant from her job with the local trust and the pair moved to Corby in East Midlands where they still live.

Among the celebrities supporting Paul in court were comedians Stephen Fry, Graham Linehan and Al Murray to finally see his conviction quashed on July 27 2012.

"It was so emotional," Sarah said.

"So many had been supporting us and were in court and it almost seemed to mean as much to them as it did to us. It felt like a massive win and it was thanks to the work of all the amazing lawyers and legal minds.

"It felt like finally someone had seen sense."

The couple now have a little boy Jesse (3) and last year tied the knot to become Mr and Mrs Chambers-Tonner.

"People said we should have called him Robin," Sarah laughed.

Sarah and Paul Chambers-Tonner on their wedding day
Sarah and Paul Chambers-Tonner on their wedding day Sarah and Paul Chambers-Tonner on their wedding day