Teenager arrested after threatening emails led to schools across UK being placed on lockdown

An 18-year-old man has been arrested after schools were placed on lockdown on Wednesday (March 18) due to threatening emails sent out across the UK.

On Wednesday evening, officers from NCA and Hertfordshire Police arrested a teenager in the Abbots Langley area on suspicion of making malicious communications.

A spokesman for NCA said it related to the threatening emails received hours earlier by “a large number of schools and colleges throughout the UK”.

The spokesman said: “We understand these threats have caused considerable concern but we do not assess there to be an increased risk to the public."

He added: “We believe this incident is linked to the hoax bomb threat that closed hundreds of UK schools last week.

“As this is a live investigation we are unable to comment further.”

A number of schools across the UK told parents to pick up children early after receiving an email which threatened children would be “run down and shot”, according to Mirror Online.

The school lockdown on Wednesday (March 28) comes a week after another teenager was arrested after a huge bomb hoax closed hundreds of schools across the UK.

A 19-year-old man was arrested by Hertfordshire Police in Watford on Wednesday March 21 on suspicion of blackmail and making malicious communications.

In a statement made after the first arrest, a National Crime Agency (NCA) spokesman said there was "no credible threat to the emails" received last week.

"We understand parents' and teachers' concerns but stress there was no credible threat to the emails schools received," the spokesman said.

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