V J Chambers Popular Books
V J Chambers Biography & Facts
R v Paul Chambers (appealed to the High Court as Chambers v Director of Public Prosecutions), popularly known as the Twitter Joke Trial, was a United Kingdom legal case centred on the conviction of a man under the Communications Act 2003 for posting a joke about destroying an airport on Twitter, a message which police regarded as "menacing". The conviction in the Magistrates' court was widely condemned as a miscarriage of justice, but was upheld on appeal to the Crown Court. Chambers appealed against the Crown Court decision to the High Court, which would ultimately quash the conviction. Background During late December 2009 and early January 2010, cold weather had resulted in considerable disruption across northern England. Robin Hood Airport in South Yorkshire was one of many airports which was forced to cancel flights. On 6 January 2010, an intending traveller, Paul Chambers, then aged 26, who was planning to fly to Northern Ireland to meet his then girlfriend (later wife), posted a message on Twitter: A week later, an off-duty manager at the airport found the message while doing an unrelated computer search. The airport management considered the message to be "not credible" as a threat, but contacted the police anyway. Chambers was arrested by anti-terror police at his office, his house was searched and his mobile phone, laptop and desktop hard drive were confiscated. He was later 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". On 10 May, he was found guilty at Doncaster Magistrates' Court, fined £385 and ordered to pay £600 costs. As a consequence he lost his job as an administrative and financial supervisor at a car parts company. Response A number of legal commentators and celebrities criticised the conviction and called for it to be overturned. They include journalist Nick Cohen, who drew comparison with Milan Kundera's anti-communist novel The Joke; television writer Graham Linehan; and the comedian and television presenter Stephen Fry, who offered to pay Chambers's fine and subsequent legal bills. Appeals Chambers lost an appeal against his conviction. Judge Jacqueline Davies, sitting with two magistrates, heard his appeal in Doncaster Crown Court; she judged that the tweet contained "menace" and that Chambers must have known that it might be taken seriously. Thousands of Twitter users responded by reposting Chambers' Tweet including the hashtag #iamspartacus, in reference to the climactic "I am Spartacus!" scene in the 1960 film Spartacus. A further appeal to the High Court was heard on 8 February 2012, in which the two judge panel of Lord Justice Gross and Mr Justice Irwin failed to reach a decision after initially reserving judgement. The appeal by case stated was made by Chambers' barristers, Ben Emmerson QC and Sarah Przybylska; David Allen Green, who acted for Chambers in earlier proceedings, also acted as his solicitor, through Preiskel & Co LLP. The appeal was entirely on points of law and centred on the correct interpretation of section 127(1) of the Communications Act 2003. A second High Court appeal, before a panel of three judges, headed by the Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, opened on 22 June 2012. One of the arguments made by Chambers' barrister for this last appeal, John Cooper QC, was that if the tweet was "menacing" so was John Betjeman's poem, "Slough", pleading "Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough!". He also asked whether Shakespeare would have been prosecuted if he had tweeted his line from Henry VI, Part 2 (Act IV, Scene 2), "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers". The latter reportedly drew laughter from the judges. On 27 June, the judges announced a reserved judgement. Chambers arrived at court accompanied by Stephen Fry and the comedian Al Murray. Chambers's conviction was quashed on 27 July 2012. The approved judgement concluded that "a message which does not create fear or apprehension in those to whom it is communicated, or who may reasonably be expected to see it, falls outside this provision [of the 2003 Act]". Accordingly, the appeal against conviction was "allowed on the basis that this 'tweet' did not constitute or include a message of a menacing character". It has been claimed by sources talking to The Guardian that staff at the Crown Prosecution Service had been in favour of dropping the case, to the point of informing Chambers, via his solicitor, that they would not oppose the final appeal, but had then been overruled by the head of the service, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer. Chambers' MP, Louise Mensch, called for a House of Commons committee to investigate Starmer's behaviour. However, a spokesperson for the CPS said that Starmer had not taken part in decisions about the case. Impact of the case The case led to a review of the guidance for the Crown Prosecution Service of their use of Section 127 and other speech related offences for online content, which attempted to narrow the use of the section in prosecutions. The "grossly offensive" test has remained controversial and has been further reviewed by the Law Commission, which is examined offences to "improve the protection afforded to victims" while providing "better safeguards for freedom of expression". The result was the Commission's "2021 Modernising Communications Offences report", and the recommendations made in that report were accepted by the Government in February 2022. The Government pledged to use the Online Safety Bill to amend the law to implement the recommendations. The Law Commission stated: The reformed offences will refocus the criminal law on communications where the sender specifically intended to cause harm, and that pose a real and substantial risk of causing at least serious distress. It will no longer be enough that the communication was “grossly offensive” regardless of whether harm was likely or intended. See also Horizon Group v. Bonnen Mark Meechan References External links Crown Prosecution Files on the case, released under Freedom of Information law.. Discover the V J Chambers popular books. Find the top 100 most popular V J Chambers books.
Best Seller V J Chambers Books of 2024
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Moment of Truth
V. J. ChambersAfter some recovery time for the Conviction Review Unit, Elke Lawrence is ready for a challenge.But she gets more than she bargained for with this new case, involving a man convict...
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Code Fire
Val St. CroweJesse Talon thinks her biggest problem’s going to be sorting through her feelings for Wyatt Flint. Now that Wyatt’s a Section X agent too, they work together. She figures her attra...
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Trembling
Jove ChambersEverything should be idyllic now that Jason and Azazel are settled down in sunny Florida. But Azazel can't shake the fear that the Sons are still after them, no matter how much Jas...
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The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book Three
Val St. CroweBerserkers have overrun the city. Olivia, Josh, Fitzpatrick and a group of survivors hide out in a fortified apartment building they call the compound. But the atmosphere is tense....
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Breathless
Jove ChambersWhat if the messiah and the antichrist fell in love?Azazel is seventeen and sexually frustrated. Her biggest issue is trying to figure out why her seemingly normal boyfriend won't ...
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Born Under a Blond Sign
V. J. ChambersBlond detective Ivy Stern has always had a complicated relationship with Miles Pike. When Miles hears that his younger brother Gilbert has shot five other college students and hims...
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Witch and Moan
Val St. CrowePetra Brightshade gets captured and then wakes up on a circus train in a car with some elephants, with a dampener on her wrist that keeps her from using her primal magic.It’s not e...
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Code Blood
Val St. CroweJesse Talon wants Wyatt Flint. But it’s complicated. Because he’s got some weird connection to Morgan Steele, the woman who absorbed his arch nemesis the Green King.Which is fine, ...
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Witch Session
Val St. CrowePetra Brightshade manages to get the human part of her restored. Awesome. If only everything else didn't go to hell at the same time. Apparently, she's a magnet for angry psychos. ...
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Necessary Magic
Val St. CroweShe's a former thief. He's an enslaved werewolf. Together, they will change everything....Seventeen years ago, the human realm collided with a magic world. Now, the land is fractur...
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Ashes
Val St. CroweClarke Gannon can longer deny her feelings for dragonshifter Naelen Spencer. Unfortunately, her feelings for gargoyle Logan Gray haven’t gone away. A harrowing four months held cap...
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City of Dragons, Books 1-3
Val St. CroweWhen Detective Lachlan Flint of the Sea City Police asks for my help advising him with cases involving magical creatures, I'm hesitant.Sure, I'm a dragon shifter, and I've got garg...
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Black Magic
Val St. CroweBree West and Jack Bastian are now connected, to each other, and to the new black unicorn, Jonquil. With Jonquil’s new powers, the unicorns have begun plans to crush the regime of ...
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The Drowned City
K. J. Maitland'A gripping thriller' THE TIMES'Dark and enthralling' ANDREW TAYLOR'Goes right to the heart of the Jacobean court' TRACY BORMANGunpowder and treason changed England forever. But th...
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Cruel Magic
Val St. CrowePlans to rise up against the cruel regime of the witches are well underway. Bree West works to convince her herd of unicorns to join the fight, while Jack Bastian reaches out to ot...
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Skin and Blond
V. J. ChambersDark. Raw. Gritty. Blond.from USA Today bestselling author V. J. ChambersEver since blond detective Ivy Stern got herself kicked off the police force for “sexual conduct unbecoming...
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Sloane
Jove ChambersWhen Sloane Drake learns her best friend Leigh has gone missing in Boston, she expects the worst. She and the rest of the exassassins go after Leigh to discover her whereabouts. No...
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Smoke
Val St. CroweWhen Naelen Spencer shows up at Clarke Gannon’s apartment saying he wants to hire her to hunt his sister down, she’s got zilch inclination to actually take that job.For one thing, ...
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Crimson
Jove ChambersProfessor Carter Alexander may have a sharp tongue and a reputation for reducing freshman acting students to tears, but he’s gorgeous. He’s the man of Teagan Moss’ dreams. Literall...
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Witch Slap
Val St. CroweWelcome to Ravenridge College.Get drunk. Make stupid decisions. And kick serious interdimensional butt.Petra Brightshade was under the impression that college meant going to, like,...
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Chambers v. Oquinn
Wisconsin Court of AppealsIn this case, we consider whether the court of appeals had jurisdiction to review an order compelling arbitration under the Texas Arbitration Act (TAA) as part of the appeal of a f...
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The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book One
Val St. CroweThe jettatori are male witches. They make and sell illegal magical charms. Their underground network controls the city, and it’s boys’ clubno women allowed.Eighteenyearold Olivia C...
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Between the Heaves of Storm
Jove ChambersAzazel wanders into Jason's community with no memory of who she is or what they shared together. But Jason recognizes her, and once he discovers his powers work on her, he's willin...
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Midnight Moonlight
Jove ChambersA BBW alpha werewolf story that takes its cues from “Beauty and the Beast”…The mind of a beast. The body of a man.Calla Reynolds awakes in a dark room but not alone. There is someo...
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Fire Brand
Val St. CroweCity of Dragons, Book SixI’m Penny Caspian, and my life is damned near perfect. I have a beautiful new baby who I love so much it hurts, and his dad, Detective Lachlan Flint, is st...
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Grain of Truth
V. J. ChambersThey have the power to overturn wrongful convictions... and a target on their backs.Elke Lawrence welcomes the long hours and relocation her “promotion” requires. She hopes leading...
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Fire Magic
Val St. CroweCity of Dragons, Book ThreeAlastair Cooper, my abusive exhusband, is dead. He was found in dragon form in a dragon slayer’s cooler, an arrow in his heart. But before I can start da...
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Fire Born
Val St. CroweCity of Dragons, Book FivePenny Caspian again. Nine months pregnant. Big as a house. And there’s another serial killer loose in Sea City.This guy uses compulsion to kill his victim...
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Fire Marked
Val St. CroweCity of Dragons, Book FourNot only are rogue dragons real, they’re attacking my hotel. Every few days, there’s another one, terrorizing me, my unborn baby, my boyfriend Lachlan Fli...
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Fire Song
Val St. CroweCity of Dragons, Book OnePenny Caspian is hiding something.But it’s not that she killed the young dragon shifter girls that are washing up on the beach, no matter what Detective La...
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The Stillness in the Air
Jove ChambersThe electricity went out months ago, all over the east coast. Due to her special powers, Azazel is employed by the government to help keep the peace as civilization crumbles around...
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Truth and Consequences
V. J. ChambersThe Conviction Review Unit: an investigative team that overturns convictions and frees the innocent.Elke Lawrence has never been happier in her job as the head of the Conviction Re...
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Code Onyx
Val St. CroweThe Mission: Secure Wyatt Flint’s cooperation and collect a series of specialized magical objects.Who is Wyatt Flint? Not covered in debrief.Cooperation in what? Not covered in deb...
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The Toil and Trouble Trilogy, Book Two
Val St. CroweOlivia Calabrese struggles to deal with the fact that her boyfriend Brice turns into a berserkerragefilled monsterevery night at midnight, and that if she ever has sex with him, sh...
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Out for Blond
V. J. ChambersTess Carver was victim to a brutal, ritualistic murder. Strange symbols were cut into her body, which was found in a ring of trees under a dark sky.The police seem to have the case...
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That Last Onset
Jove ChambersJason wants to punish himself for all the horrible things he's done, and so he's been lying low and wallowing in his guilt. When he discovers that Kieran and Eve are threatening hi...
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J. I. Case Co. v. Chambers
Supreme Court of PennsylvaniaKESTER, Justice. This is a proceeding to review an order of the State Tax Commission increasing the assessed value of the machinery and parts inventory of petitioner, J. I. Case Co...
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Gasp
Jove ChambersAzazel vowed never to tell Jason that she and Jude accidentally ingested the aphrodisiac and had sex, but now she’s pregnant with Jude’s child, and she can’t keep the secret from h...
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Witch, Please
Val St. CroweHello, Square One. So nice to see you again.To save Logan, Petra Brightshade had to reopen the breaches she just freaking closed. Now, she and her fellow primals are right back whe...
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Shudder
Jove ChambersJason and Azazel wake abruptly from their coma, their powers gone. But they are healing quickly, to the confusion of everyone in the hospital. A team of specialists comes in the mi...
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Fire and Flood
Val St. CroweCity of Dragons, Book SevenWhen my fiancé Lachlan Flint finds out that his daughter’s killer has been murdered in a locked cell with no apparent entry points, he says he has to tak...
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Embers
Val St. CroweClarke Gannon does not want to be involved with dragonshifter Naelen Spencer.Seriously.No matter how broad his shoulders are, or how much selfprofessed groveling he does, or how de...
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Falter
Jove ChambersThey never should have woken up from that coma...Azazel relishes the chance to be on the offensive for once. Chased all her life, fighting one enemy or another who intended to kill...
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Flames
Val St. CroweClarke Gannon and Naelen Spencer prepare for the final showdown with Ronan Cunningham, the vampire intent on assembling nine powerful objects to harness their malevolent power. But...
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Fire Storm
Val St. CroweCity of Dragons, Book TwoPenny Caspian here. Another day, another dead dragon shifter in Sea City. This one’s Fletcher Remington, a rich playboy who enjoyed surfing and heroin unti...