Hoax bomb threats made to hundreds of schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Police assure parents and teachers that warnings were bogus despite pupils being evacuated from some sites

Hundreds of schools in Scotland and Northern Ireland were hit by a fresh wave of hoax bomb threats on Wednesday, with some sites evacuated as a precaution.

Police said at least 470 schools, from Dumfries in the south of Scotland to Aberdeenshire and Orkney in the north, had received the hoax warnings. At least 300 schools were affected in Northern Ireland. Similar claims were sent in a “generic communication” to schools in the Republic of Ireland.