College shuts after hoax security threat

The principal said students would study from home on Thursday

A college in Cornwall has closed following a "hoax security threat", the principal has said.

Launceston College principal Matthew Thompson said it received the threat on Wednesday evening which staff "acted on immediately".

"We took the precaution of closing as we could not guarantee the safety of our students until police checks had been carried out on site this morning," he said.

The principal added students were studying from home on Thursday, and an open evening would still take place from 17:00 BST.

Mr Thompson said it was "not possible" for police checks to take place ahead of the school day.

He said: "I believe it is only right that we took this matter extremely seriously and we will be supporting the police with any further investigations into the background of the hoax threat."

Devon and Cornwall Police said it was called after a threat was emailed into the school.

"Police are content that this was a hoax," it said.

"Inquiries are ongoing into the source of the email."