A 24-year-old man has been charged with threatening to kill after allegedly posting on Facebook he would kill 200 people in America.

Reece Elliott, 24, from South Shields, South Tyneside has also been charged with making malicious communications, which led to thousands of pupils staying home from school, Northumbria Police said.

According to reports, the post was made anonymously on an online memorial page, set up for a Tennessee student who died in October.

That led schools in Warren County, Tennessee, to tighten security, with limited access to premises.

PA