North-East man charged over Facebook threat to kill 200 US schoolchildren (From The Northern Echo)
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South Shields man remanded in custody over Facebook threat to kill 200 US schoolchildren
12:37pm Saturday 9th February 2013 in News
By Andrew Douglas, Deputy News Editor
A 24-year-old North-East man was this morning remanded in custody after being charged with threatening to kill 200 schoolchildren in the United States on social networking site Facebook.
Reece Elliott appeared at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court for a 30-minute hearing where he also faced a charge of making a malicious communication.
Threatening posts made on a Facebook memorial page for a girl killed in a road accident in Tennessee led to thousands of children being kept off school in the Warren County area of the state on Thursday.
Elliott, of Shrewsbury Terrace, South Shields, did not enter pleas to the charges.
Kevin Smallcombe, defending, said Elliott has no passport and no desire to visit Warren County.
Jim Lynch, chairman of the bench, said he would be remanded into custody and Elliott will next appear in court at 10am on Wednesday.
A spokeswoman for Northumbria Police said the force would continue to liaise with their counterparts in Warren County.
