Star only told of threat minutes before concert
X FACTOR winner Joe McElderry said he knew nothing about a ‘suspicious letter’ sent to the Consett Empire Theatre until moments before he was due on stage.
South Shields singer Joe was due to perform at the theatre on Friday night but the show was cancelled minutes before it was due to start.
Durham Police said that a suspicious letter was received at the theatre on April 21.
Joe has now spoken out saying the first he heard about the letter was moments before his show was due to begin.
Joe said: “Just to put the record straight myself and my management team were totally unaware of any threat to me before last night’s show.
“At 7.26pm last night I was informed of a suspicious letter that had been intercepted by Consett Theatre management three days previous and learned of some of its content.
“Upon hearing this I immediately told the theatre manager that the show would not go ahead and to get everybody out of the building safely ASAP.”
A Durham police spokeswoman said: “On April 21, we received a call at 9.45am that a suspicious letter had been received by a business in Consett. We attended, collected the letter and it was forensically examined by special branch.”
Joe had been excited about the show before he was told about the letter.
He wrote on his Instagram: “Heading out on tour this April Live in Concert.”
And throughout the day he was posting videos of himself during rehearsal.