Threatening emails sent to thousands of schools across UK, Ireland and Italy treated as hoaxes

Threatening emails sent to thousands of schools across the UK, Ireland and Italy are being treated as hoaxes.

More than 300 schools in Northern Ireland reported receiving the same emailed message, which contained a threat.

Similar emails were received by 470 schools in Scotland, while 6,300 schools in Italy got the messages, with hundreds of them evacuated.

Police in the Republic of Ireland said they were aware of a "generic communication" that had been sent to a number of "educational establishments", but which was dismissed as "not credible".

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) likewise said it was treating the email, which originated from outside the country, as a hoax.

Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally said: "We take incidents of this nature very seriously, and we understand the concern in the community, school communities and for students and parents.

"Our enquiries are ongoing. However, at this stage, we consider the risk to the public as low."

Police Scotland said the messages had been assessed, and were being treated as hoaxes.

A force spokesperson said: "We understand how distressing messages of this nature can be for pupils, parents, carers and school staff, and the concern they can understandably cause.

"Our advice is that there is no requirement to evacuate schools or keep children away from education based solely on the content of the emails."

It comes as at least 300 schools in Italy were evacuated on Wednesday after receiving a bomb alert.

Italian education minister Giuseppe Valditara told the La7 TV channel that the alerts were presumed to be hoaxes.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later posted on social media that the threats posed no danger, adding that police and other public bodies were monitoring the situation.

Ms Meloni said she would chair a government meeting to take stock of events and co-ordinate further action.

At Rome's Mamiani high school, students poured into the streets, mistaking the alarm for the recess bell.

They found out about the bomb threat only after they were outside.

Student Anita Bartocci, 18, claimed she was told an email arrived from "hackers in which they said they would have killed everyone".

"It was pretty violent," she added.

Italy's defence minister, Guido Crosetto, said the emailed threats were aimed at "sowing terror, or creating concern".

"It's too easy. Any one of us can use the available means and instruments to send an email to a school, a daycare, an airline, saying that there's a bomb," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Authorities have not attributed the threats to any group or state, and no evidence has emerged linking the hoaxes to a government.

A number of schools in Northern Ireland and Scotland were closed last month following hoax bomb threats.

Northern Ireland's Education Authority (EA) said the message sent to its schools had "similarities" with last month's bogus threat.

The EA said it was liaising with police, adding: "At this stage, we have not been made aware of any evidence of any credible threat to schools.

"Investigations are continuing. It is for PSNI to determine the credibility or otherwise of any such message."

The EA advised schools to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to PSNI.

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Police Scotland said its cyber and fraud unit is carrying out extensive enquiries to establish the source of the messages, with officers continuing to liaise with law enforcement partners across the UK and internationally.

In a statement, the force said of the emails: "They have been sent widely to distribution lists across the UK and Northern Ireland and our assessment remains that they do not represent a credible threat."

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