A threat has been issued to schools

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At least 12 schools in Devon and Cornwall were affected, and schools in Durham also received the alert. A police source told The Plymouth Herald: "Police in Plymouth believe a number of schools in the city and beyond have received a threatening email which suggests children will come to harm when they leave the premises." Parents frantically rushed to schools to collect their children before the messages were confirmed to be a nationwide hoax. Responding to the incident, a spokesperson for Devon and Cornwall Police said: "We are aware of a series of malicious communications to schools in Devon and Cornwall as well as across the country. "Enquiries continue to establish the facts and forces are working together to investigate who is responsible. "Police take hoaxes extremely seriously. They divert police resources and cause disruption and alarm to the public."

Sgt Rachel Ward said she was in the process of informing as many schools as possible alerting them to the email and the likelihood it is a hoax. She told the Herald: “We understand this may be a national problem and that schools have been receiving spurious emails. We are taking the matter seriously and are delivering messages over the phone and in person to schools.” Officials later confirmed the warnings were part of a UK-wide hoax. A Plymouth City Council spokesman said: “We were made aware this morning that a threatening email had been sent to schools in Plymouth. "We have confirmed with the police that the email has been sent to schools wider than Plymouth and that it is a malicious hoax. "We have advised schools that no further action is necessary."

A parent has said a caretaker from Marlborough primary school in Plymouth came out to tell parents that there was a terrorist threat and that a call had been made to say if the children were released they would be ‘hit with a car’. Another parent, Terry Smith, said he was trying to collect his child said there were parents waiting outside the school to pick up their children. Cambridgeshire Police also issued a statement. “Enquiries are being carried out to establish the facts and forces are working together, along with the National Crime Agency, to investigate who is responsible. “The emails say that at 3.15pm a car will drive into as many students as possible as they try to leave.

Marlborough School is one of those affected

“It says: ‘If you try and evacuate them the driver will get out and shoot any student leaving. “‘You have a choice here, you can ignore this email and risk the lives of the students you say you care for, or you can listen to what we are telling you. “‘The only way out is to go out with a BANG’. “The email is signed off: “From your team PI3x13t.” Policehour.co.uk reports that a number of schools have shutters pulled these down and locked the school gates.