Police Treat Threatening Email Reported by More Than 300 Northern Ireland Schools as a Hoax

Police in Northern Ireland are treating a threatening email reported by more than 300 schools as a hoax after checks found nothing untoward, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said on Wednesday, 11 November.

The schools reported receiving the same message that morning. Police confirmed that it originated outside the UK and that, based on enquiries and information available at the time, they were treating it as a hoax. Enquiries into the incident are continuing.

Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally said police understood the concern among pupils, parents and school communities but considered the risk to the public to be low at that stage. Officers were working with affected schools and education authorities. The PSNI also urged anyone with information about suspicious activity to call 101 or 999 in an emergency.

The precautions differed between schools. Victoria Primary School in Newtownards moved pupils to a nearby church after receiving police advice, the Belfast News Letter reported. Other schools told parents that lessons would continue as normal. The incident did not produce the same pattern of school closures reported in October.

Department of Education Advises Schools to Remain Open

The Department of Education advised schools to remain open unless otherwise instructed by the PSNI. The guidance allowed schools to continue lessons while police assessed the messages and remained in contact with affected establishments.

The Education Authority (EA) initially said the latest email bore similarities to a bogus threat sent the previous month. It had not been made aware of evidence of a credible threat and said determining the message's credibility was a matter for police. Following the PSNI's assessment, the authority condemned the emails for the distress and disruption caused, describing the incident as the second of its kind in less than a month.

Previous Threat Reached Up to 300 Schools in October

The latest incident follows a similar wave of threatening emails on 19 October, when up to 300 schools reported receiving the same generalised message. The email referred to an explosive device inside school buildings, according to contemporaneous reporting, prompting some schools to close while others remained open.

The PSNI also treated the October message as a hoax after checks found nothing untoward. Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said the risk to the public was low. Education Minister Paul Givan acknowledged the alarm caused by the threat and the resulting school closures, while the EA later confirmed that most schools had remained open.

Similar Threats Reported in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland

Schools in Scotland also received threatening emails on Wednesday. Police Scotland said around 1,000 schools had received a message and that officers were treating the communications as hoaxes. Enquiries had found no indication of a credible threat or wider danger to the public.

The force said schools did not need to evacuate or keep children away from education solely because of the emails. Its Cyber and Fraud Unit was investigating their source and liaising with law enforcement partners.

In the Republic of Ireland, An Garda Síochána, the national police service, said it was aware of a generic communication sent to several educational establishments. Gardaí assessed the threat as not credible and advised that schools did not need to evacuate.

Italy Reports at Least 300 School Evacuations

Italy also faced a wave of school bomb warnings on Wednesday. At least 300 schools were evacuated, while a subsequent report by Reuters put the number of schools that received the messages at around 6,300. The figures refer to different groups: schools evacuated and schools sent the warnings.

The alerts prompted school closures and led parents to collect their children from schools. One school in Rome told parents that pupils had been moved to a safe area under staff supervision, Reuters reported. Italian Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara said the warnings were presumed to be hoaxes.

Authorities have not publicly established whether the threatening emails sent to schools across Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and Italy originated from a single source.