A TEENAGER inspired by the Columbine High School massacre has been jailed after making bogus bomb threats to hundreds of UK schools — including at least three schools on the Isle of Wight.

George Duke-Cohan twice targeted schools in the UK and US with hoax messages that triggered evacuations.

Among those targeted on the Island was St Georges Special School in Newport.

The Isle of Wight Council and Hampshire police quickly established the emails were a hoax and were able to provide support and guidance to schools affected.

The 19-year-old, of Watford, emailed Marlborough College and referred to the Columbine High School shooting.

He was jailed for three years by Judge Richard Foster at Luton Crown Court on Friday.

The recorder of Luton told him: "You knew exactly what you were doing and why you were doing it, and you knew full well the havoc that would follow.

"You were playing a cat-and-mouse game with the authorities.

"You were playing a game for your own perverted sense of fun in full knowledge of the consequences."

In his sentencing remarks, the judge added: "The scale of what you did was enormous.

"Schools were evacuated and, where they were not, those in charge had to take agonising decisions.

"The passengers and crew on that flight on 9th August must have been terrified when their plane was taken to a quarantined area, and, apart from the financial cost, the onward travelling plans and connecting flights would have been in disarray."

The teenager pleaded guilty to three counts of making hoax bomb threats in September.

Duke-Cohan, who was doing an IT course, first created panic in March 2018 when he emailed thousands of schools in the UK warning about an explosive.

More than 400 schools were evacuated as a result.

Prosecutor Rebecca Austin said he sent emails to more than 1,700 schools in the UK between March 16 and 19 this year.

The emails threatened to set off an explosive device if payment was not made.

One particular email said: "This is a message to everyone. We've sent in a student with a bomb.

"If you try to call the cops we will blow up the device on the spot. Any attempt at defusing it yourself will cause it to explode."

Police arrested Duke-Cohan days later, but he was able to send another batch of emails to schools in the US and UK while under investigation in April.

Ms Austin said it was "clear" that Duke-Cohan used the influence of the Columbine attack of 1999 to add "authenticity".

The email sent to Marlborough College said: "We follow in the footsteps of our two heroes who died in the Columbine High School shooting."

The judge said that, for the purposes of sentencing, he accepted that Duke-Cohan has autism spectrum disorder.