Hoax threats reach at least 1,000 Scottish schools

At least 1,000 schools in Scotland received hoax threatening emails on 11 November.

Police Scotland said its inquiries found nothing to suggest the emails were a credible threat or that there was a wider threat to the public. Scotland’s education secretary, Mairi McAllan, also said there was no public risk.

The messages followed a similar threat to Scottish schools on 19 October, which prompted more than 300 calls to police while pupils in many areas were on half-term holidays. Northern Ireland’s Education Authority said the latest message also resembled a threat sent there the previous month, which police treated as a hoax.

Latest · 11 November 2026

In Scotland, at least 1,000 schools received hoax threatening emails. In Italy, an email containing a hoax bomb threat was sent to about 6,000 schools, the education ministry said. The Guardian reported that hundreds of schools were evacuated. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said checks so far had found nothing suggesting a concrete danger. It remains unclear whether the Italian incidents are connected to the threats in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Italian officials said a single bomb-threat email appeared to have been sent to 6,300 state schools. The BBC also reported, citing local authorities, that more than 700 schools across Scotland and Northern Ireland received bomb threats. That combined count is not directly comparable with the earlier report that at least 1,000 schools in Scotland received hoax threats.

Scottish schools told to readmit pupils and resume classes

Edinburgh council said schools were briefly evacuated as a precaution and later told families there was no need to remove their children. Dumfries and Galloway council said children were sent home after most of its schools received messages; some schools there were evacuated as a precaution. Highland Council said some of its schools activated emergency protocols.

Scottish schools were told to readmit evacuated pupils and resume classes. In Northern Ireland, Assistant Chief Constable Anthony McNally of the Police Service of Northern Ireland said inquiries were continuing and assessed the risk to the public as low at that stage.

Investigators seek the sender

Police Scotland’s Cyber and Fraud Unit is working with security and law-enforcement bodies in the UK and overseas to identify those responsible. Assistant Chief Constable Mark Sutherland said officers believed the Scottish email came from the same source as emails sent to Northern Ireland and elsewhere in the UK, but it was too early to say who was behind them. Northern Ireland police said the email originated outside the UK.

Schools in Italy also received threats, but it is unclear whether those incidents are connected to the messages in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland’s Education Authority advised schools to stay vigilant and report suspicious activity to police, and said it would provide a further update after speaking with police.