Earlier this month a 21-year-old man named Darren Rigby was sentenced to 28 months in jail by a court in Liverpool, England. Merseyside Police put out a news article about the crime which explained that he’d made email threats against three different schools.
Last month, we received three separate reports that hoax emails had been sent to Holly Lodge Girls’ College in West Derby (Monday 19 January), Greenbank High School in Southport (Friday 23 January) and The Belvidere Academy in Liverpool (Monday 26 January).
Following an investigation, Rigby was identified as the suspect and he was arrested on Wednesday 28 January.
“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.
“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.
When the BBC published a story about the case it pretty much followed that pattern. Here’s the BBC’s initial take.
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.
Not contained in either story is an explanation for what motivated Rigby’s actions or a description of the threats that led the schools to be shut down. But last week, the BBC revisited the story and offered a revised version which is quite a revelation.
A man who admitted sending a number of threatening hoax emails to three girls schools, threatening to target pupils and staff over the “misgendering” of trans girls, has been jailed…
In the email to Holly Lodge on 19 January, he said he was “inside the school, hiding with a sword and crossbow”, adding that he was “going to injure and kill as many girls as I can” and anyone who “tries to stop me will also be shot”.
On 23 January, he sent a message to Greenbank, saying he on his way “to the school with a revolver and machete”.
He said he was “going to shoot and stab all of your girls”, adding that “you TERFS” [an acronym of Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist which has been used as a derogatory term against women opposed to gender ideology] were “going to learn to stop mocking and misgendering transwomen like me”.
The revised story also included a section about the impact these death threats had on the schools.
Greenbank headteacher Davina Aspinall said about 30 pupils did not attend school the day after the threat was made and some parents had considered home schooling as a result of the threat.
She added that the school’s youngest students were particularly affected.
“It was terrifying for them,” she said.
“They were crying and asking if they were going to be harmed.”
Why was all of this left out of the initial story? The BBC offered an excuse as part of a lengthy apology added to the story.
Update 17 June: This article was originally published without including key details about this case, due to miscommunication between BBC reporters in court and the writers. We have updated the article to explain that these threats were directed at three all-girls’ schools, related to the “misgendering” of trans girls and that Darren Rigby identified in one threat as a trans woman.
We have also included further details from these communications which referred to TERFs, targeting female pupils and staff and included threats to use bladed weapons, a crossbow, a revolver, and poison.
Separately, we have also added reaction from senior leaders at all three schools, in which they explain the fear, disruption and upset caused by these threats to pupils, parents and staff.
We have also included comments from Recorder Eric Lamb during sentencing that despite Rigby’s guilty plea at the earliest opportunity, this was a “planned and sophisticated plot” which included measures to make him harder to trace, and the Recorder’s references to defence submissions which included Rigby’s heavy use of cannabis and alcohol, immaturity, previous convictions and refusals to provide medical information for two psychiatric reports.
We apologise for the failures in our reporting.
A miscommunication between reporters? That’s why it took two weeks to include the details about the threats? Sure, right. I’m sure everyone believes that. Well, not me and not this former BBC reporter.
I love the BBC. It gave me everything I have (well, them and ITN who have been amazing as well). But there is an internal civil war going on and this article tells you everything you need to know:
“… we apologise for the failures in our reporting.”https://t.co/A19fuBGoFp
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) June 22, 2026
I told the last BBC DG to his face last year that if he didn’t get a grip on the definition of “woman” in the BBC’s reporting, we are all fucked. Because if our national broadcaster can’t define a woman, society will start to break down. He told me it wasn’t a big story.
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) June 22, 2026
The DG is the Director-General of the BBC.
I might believe I’m Napoleon, but the BBC would not call me Napoleon. Why extend that courtesy to men who believe they are women?
— Nick Wallis (@nickwallis) June 22, 2026
J.K. Rowling was recommending people read his thread.
Essential 🧵on the BBC and the internal battle being waged over truth versus ideology 👇 https://t.co/G09O3OboNE
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 22, 2026
Not nearly good enough @BBCNews.
It’s not an apology and correction that’s needed. It’s a clear out and wholescale change.This is a measly and pathetic apology for:
❌ lying to the public
❌ hiding vital information
❌ suppressing the violent woman-hating intentions of a… https://t.co/OrlZpktd0y pic.twitter.com/bOfcsXko6q— Women’s Rights Network – WRN (@WomensRightsNet) June 22, 2026
This is a measly and pathetic apology for:
❌ lying to the public
❌ hiding vital information
❌ suppressing the violent woman-hating intentions of a would be mass murderer.
You routinely pretend men are women, even murderers and rapists.
You abandoned your core principles to pimp for an ideology.
We have no trust in you.
Your apology is rejected.
The BBC deserves the anger for the shoddy reporting but it’s worth nothing that the “news” item from Merseyside Police was just as bad and also left out all of the awkward details of the crime. That also seems like a problem. Why are the police hiding information about crimes from the public?
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