A STRING of ‘obscene and offensive’ social media messages were sent to students at a Ramsbottom high school – allegedly by a fellow pupil.

Police began an investigation after Year 11 pupils at Woodhey High School, in Bolton Road West, were abused online via a false account.

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Officers from Bury North neighbourhood policing team are looking into claims that a student at the school was behind the abuse.

In a message posted on the team’s Facebook account, it states: “Police are investigating claims that a student at Woodhey High School has been sending offensive and abusive messages to fellow students’ Facebook accounts.

“This is particularly upsetting as the fake account is often implying other students are behind this, and has caused unnecessary distress for some Year 11 students.

“Police will work with Facebook to try to track the fake user.”

Brian Roadnight, headteacher at Woodhey, said: “Some of our Year 11 pupils have been targeted with abuse through a fake Facebook account.

“We took some measures in school but, when the abuse became more extreme, we sought support from Greater Manchester Police.

“Thanks to their help, this seems to have died down.”

Mr Roadnight said that the school did not know who the person sending the messages was, and could not confirm if it was a Woodhey student.

Pupils have been advised by police to check their privacy settings to ensure people who are not friends are unable to send them messages.

Anyone with information should contact PC Angela Freudenberger on 0161 856 8181 or 0161 856 8182.