Coventry nurseries receive sick threats

Caller threatened to kill children and staff at two Coventry nurseries



Two Coventry nurseries received threatening phone calls from someone who said they had “guns and knives” and were going to kill all the staff and children.

The sickening threats were made on Wednesday morning at about 10.30am and police were called as the nurseries activated emergency procedures.

Calls were received by ABC Nursery, in Earlsdon , and Pattison Nursery, in Binley Road , from a caller with a husky voice who issued the sinister message .

Sarah Ginn, owner of ABC Nursery, told the Telegraph her staff were left petrified and parents turned up shaking after the nursery used an emergency email system to notify parents.

She said: “We had a call from someone who said they had knives and guns and they were coming in to kill us all.

“Our finance officer took the call and the person said ‘We are coming to the nursery with guns and knives and I’m going to kill everybody, the children and the staff’.

Ms Ginn said the lack of an immediate response from police had left her feeling concerned.

She said: “It doesn’t fill you with confidence. Hopefully nothing like this will happen again.

“We’ve heard the person was calling several schools in the region so it looks like it was a hoax.

“We also heard that they called a plant nursery, so that makes us feel slightly better.”

In response to concerns about the delays, a spokesman from West Midlands Police said: “There was a string of calls across the West Midlands and we tracked a person down and arrested them pretty quickly.”

The force also released a statement today which said a woman from Dudley had been arrested and will appear in court charged with making threatening calls to nurseries.

A statement said: “A 22-year-old woman will appear in court this morning charged with making threatening calls to nurseries and schools across the West Midlands.

“Rebecca Cooper, of Parkhill Street, Dixons Green in Dudley, is accused of making the calls yesterday. She was arrested shortly after they were reported to police and remanded in custody overnight.

“She will appear at Dudley Magistrates Court charged with eight counts of malicious communications and a further charge of racially aggravated behaviour towards a police officer.”

I find the police response 'interesting'.

Sick hoax caller who threatened to kill nursery children is spared jail

Rebecca Cooper, of Parkhill Street, Dixons Green, Dudley, was charged with - and admitted - eight counts of malicious communications and a further charge of racially aggravated behaviour towards a police officer.

She was handed a 24-week prison sentence suspended for two years at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

She was also fined £115 and ordered to pay £50 court costs.

Anthony Schiller, defending, said Cooper suffered from Asperger’s and had 64 recorded offences. He said: “When she is low about something or angry about something, she will pick up the phone and rant. None of these people knew her and she did not know them.”

He added: “She is a young lady who is on a downwards spiral rapidly. Someone needs to do something to stop it, not only for society’s sake but for her own.”

Magistrate David Simmons said he hoped Cooper would work with her probation teams to address her behaviour.