A SCHOOL IN ANTRIM WAS evacuated today after an eight-year-old boy brought a suspect device to class with him, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

Brendan Shannon, 8, discovered the device in the grounds of the school and brought it into the classroom at St Comgall’s Primary School.

Army bomb disposal experts have confirmed it was a viable pipe bomb.

The 400 pupils were taken to a nearby church hall before being sent home.

There was a second security alert at St Joseph’s Primary School in Antrim, which also resulted in all of the children being sent home.

Both alerts have ended, according to BBC Northern Ireland.

PSNI Chief Inspector Simon Walls condemned the “cowards” responsible for planting the device and said: “It is by sheer good fortune that we are not dealing with a severely injured child right now.”

Shannon’s father said he was “very worried and very scared” when he heard that his son had approached the device. Gerard Shannon said: “I am trying to not think of what the consequences could have been.”