Court sends man to jail for snapping court room photo with Blackberry

One thing’s for sure – the courtroom is a very serious place, so you’d best do as you’re told unless you do not mind spending some time in the slammer, as this young man in the UK found out the hard way. He was sent to jail for contempt of court, partly because he decidedly took a photo of the court room using his BlackBerry smartphone despite being warned earlier that is illegal to do so.

Guess 19-year old Paul Thompson got more than what he bargained for when he attended court to see his friend face allegations of armed robbery of an off-duty police officer. The court later found out that the gun was an illegal replica, and in the midst of the “action”, Paul received a text from his girlfriend who queried him of his location, hence him taking a photo of the courtroom.

There is a theoretical maximum sentence of two years for contempt of court, and another reason why Paul was given a seemingly harsh sentence was because he was reported to be disruptive throughout the court session despite being given a couple of warnings prior. Two months in jail for being unruly and not observing the proper decorum – sounds fair enough for Paul to learn his lesson well. What do you think?