Police treating schools threat as 'hoax'

Police investigating threatening emails sent to schools across Northern Ireland this morning are treating the matter as a hoax.

Up to 300 schools to date have reported receiving the same message which contained a generalised threat.

It is believed similar emails have been received by some schools across UK.

In the last 30 minutes police have said checks have, so far, not resulted in anything untoward.

While enquiries are continuing, based on information to date, they are treating the email, which originated from outside the UK, as a hoax.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said: “We take incidents of this nature very seriously and we understand the concern in the community, not to mention the disruption it has caused in some school communities and for students and parents.

“Our enquiries are ongoing, however, at this stage we consider risk to the public as low. We will continue to liaise with schools impacted and have been working closely with the Department of Education and the Education Authority this morning to provide reassurance.

“We urge everyone, in the meantime, to be vigilant and report anything suspicious to police immediately by calling 101, or 999 in an emergency.”

It's understood the majority of schools remained open and some did close as a result of these threatening emails.

Call handlers from Police Scotland assisted PSNI with the volume of incoming reports on Monday morning.