School bomb threats: Hoaxes continue into third week
Six local schools have received hoax bomb threats this morning, causing disruption for the third week in a row.
The threats were made to schools across Sandwell and Birmingham just after 8am, but police said the calls were again 'false and malicious' and cleared schools to continue by 10am.
Shireland Collegiate Academy, Waterloo Road, Smethwick.
Bristnall Hall Academy, Bristnall Hall Lane, Oldbury.
Oldbury Academy, Pound Road, Oldbury.
Perryfields High School, Oldacre Road, Brandhall.
Edgbaston High School for Girls, Westbourne Road, Edgbaston.
Hall Green Secondary School, Southam Road, Hall Green.
Oldbury and Bristnall Hall academies, which are less than a mile from each other, were both threatened for the fourth time and delayed the start of their school days as a result.
Shireland Collegiate Academy and Perryfields High School were threatened for the second time, while Hall Green and Edgbaston schools received their first calls this morning.
You can read more about the previous bomb threats here.
Today is the fourth time that serial threats have been made to local schools since four schools were evacuated on Tuesday January 19.
Six schools were threatened on Tuesday January 26, while 14 schools received calls on the morning of Thursday January 28.
Two schools have also been targeted by separate copycat threats - Great Barr School was evacuated on Wednesday January 27 and Wodensborough Ormiston Academy was evacuated during the afternoon of Thursday January 28.
A 14-year-old boy was arrested and bailed over the Great Barr copycat call and a 14-year-old girl was arrested over the Wodensborough threat. She became the first person to be charged over the calls on Friday.
The West Midlands is one of several regions in the UK to have been targeted by hoax callers - schools in Cornwall and London were threatened last week, while a school in Glasgow was also threatened this morning.
Institutions have also been targeted abroad, with three schools in Paris and eight schools in Sydney evacuated today.
Detective Inspector Colin Mattinson, from West Midlands Police, today said: "This morning we have reports of a further six bomb threats, following similar threats made to several schools last week.
"At this stage there is nothing to suggest there is any credible threat to any of the schools.
"Our response officers have been sent to the locations to ensure there is no threat to anyone's safety and support the schools.
"A police investigation is on-going to find the person responsible for these calls."
