Man who sent hoax death threats to schools jailed

A man who admitted sending a number of threatening hoax emails to schools across Merseyside, causing some to go into lockdown, has been jailed.

Darren Rigby, 21, of Runcorn admitted three counts of sending communication threatening death or serious harm over a number of days.

Holly Lodge Girl's College in Liverpool, Greenbank High School in Southport and later The Belvedere Academy in Princes Park in Liverpool were targeted in January.

Rigby, of Worthington Close, Runcorn was sentenced to two years and four months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court.

Holly Lodge Girl's College in West Derby, Liverpool, was targeted with a threat on 19 January, causing it to shut down.

Further emails were sent to Greenbank High School in Southport on 23 January. The Belvedere Academy in Princes Park, Liverpool, received a message three days later.

Rigby was also issued with three Restraining Orders prohibiting further contact with the schools involved.

He also admitted being in possession of a controlled Class B drug (cannabis) and possession of an offensive weapon in a private place (a baton).

Det Ch Insp John Black said such reports were taken "extremely seriously".

"Rigby clearly intended to cause fear and alarm not only for staff and children at the three schools, but also parents and the wider community," he said.

"This will never be tolerated and as soon as we received these reports we carried out a thorough investigation which identified Rigby as the suspect.

"He had no option but to admit what he'd done after the evidence we were able to gather.

"He thought he could hide behind his keyboard and there would be no consequences, but it wasn't long before he was in handcuffs and sat in the back of a police car.

"I would like to take this opportunity to once again reassure parents and carers that schools across Merseyside have well established and practiced procedures to keep children and school staff safe when schools are made aware of potential incidents or threats.

"This work will continue and as a police force we will always look to provide advice to schools if required and carry out enquiries if such incidents occur in the future."

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