Spate of bomb threats nationwide as 16 schools and a shopping centre are evacuated

Schools in Peterborough, Cambridge, Chichester and Canterbury were evacuated by police this morning following the security alert.

The incidents are being treated as a hoax but all pupils were sent home.

Schools were also evacuated in Rochdale, Bedfordshire, Hampshire and Nottinghamshire.

This afternoon Idlewells Shopping Centre in Sutton, Nottinghamshire was evacuated and British Army specialists called in.

Four schools in Northumberland all faced evacuation following calls.

A primary school in was also ‘locked down’ by police and there are reports nationally of similar evacuations at two other schools.

In February bomb threats were made at six schools in Birmingham, alongside additional threats in Glasgow.

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said that there had been a series of hoax threats at schools up and down the country that have taken place since the start of the year.