The principal at The Royal School in Armagh says that those allegedly responsible for creating and sharing explicit images of pupils have now been identified.
Graham Montgomery, headmaster of the Royal School Armagh, issued a letter to parents on Monday – according to the BBC, providing an update on the situation, which he described as “shocking and without excuse”.
Mr Montgomery said the school believes it has identified “all those of whom images had been manipulated and those allegedly responsible”, adding that the number of pupils targeted is in the “single figures”.
The PSNI has confirmed that an investigation remains under way, with local officers engaging directly with school authorities and the parents or guardians of those affected.
It is understood the images were created using artificial intelligence technology, with fake explicit images then shared among some pupils. Initial reports had suggested that potentially dozens of girls may have been targeted, however Mr Montgomery sought to clarify the scale of the incident.
“While this does not lessen the impact of what has happened to the victims, I hope that it will contain any sense of panic among the wider school community,” he said.
The school first became aware of the circulation of the manipulated images on Thursday, January 8, and immediately referred the matter to the “appropriate authorities”.
Mr Montgomery stressed that safeguarding procedures are in place and that the safety and wellbeing of pupils remains a “key concern”.
“This has been a particularly difficult time for the pupils of whom manipulated images were created,” he said, urging the wider community to be mindful that those involved are teenagers.
He also appealed for restraint, asking people to “refrain from comment and speculation where possible, including on social media”.
As previously reported, the incident follows growing concern across the region about the misuse of AI to generate non-consensual explicit images. Just weeks earlier, a Portadown-based GAA club warned parents after a young person was reportedly blackmailed over “very realistic” AI-generated images.
The issue has also prompted political action, with Newry and Armagh MLA Justin McNulty and East Londonderry MLA Cara Hunter calling for stronger safeguards and tougher legislation. Ms Hunter has been at the forefront of campaigning after being personally targeted by deepfake images, with a public consultation concluding in October 2025.
New UK-wide laws are now being introduced to criminalise the creation and sharing of non-consensual intimate images using AI, with similar measures expected to influence future legislation in Northern Ireland.
Police have reiterated that enquiries into the Royal School Armagh incident are ongoing.
