Ryanair wins €248,900 judgment for Twitter threat

Ryanair has won a near €250,000 court judgment against a man who threatened it with a terror attack on Twitter.

In February 2016, Brian Lake from Pennsylvania in the US warned the Irish airline on Twitter that it had "15 minutes before I commit the biggest terror attack the UK has ever seen on one of your planes. Be ready."

The US district court in western Pennsylvania has awarded Ryanair a total of $284,148 (€248,900), including $213,111 punitive damages against Mr Blake for what its ruling described as his "malicious act".

The judgment shows that Mr Blake has a PO Box address at 4535 4th Avenue, Koppel, Pennsylvania.

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He used the handle @GunnexGod to disguise his identity. Ryanair obtained a number of subpoenas from Twitter which helped identify Mr Lake as the person responsible.

Ryanair welcomed the court's finding. "The safety of our customers, people and aircraft is our number one priority and we will not allow anyone to impugn, threaten or undermine our 32-year unblemished safety record and will pursue any 'anonymous' social media offenders through the courts," said its spokesman Robin Kiely.