Cheryl Cole rape threat

Police are investigating after a threatening message was left...

19:32 23 March 2010

Police are investigating after a threatening message was left on Dermot O'Leary's voicemail.

O'Leary raised the alarm after a "threatening message" was recorded on his phone by an unknown caller.

Officials confirmed they were investigating the threat, which is thought to have been left on the presenter's voicemail in error and intended for his fellow X Factor star Cheryl Cole.

A City of London Police spokesman said: "We are investigating claims of an offensive message being left on a mobile telephone. It follows a complaint from a member of the public."

"The message was of a sexual, threatening and sickening nature. Dermot was horrified when he heard it," an insider told The Sun.

"He thought at first it was a sick wind-up, but soon realised there was something sinister going on. Somehow this caller has tried to get hold of her number and somehow accidentally got Dermot's. If they were prepared to go to that effort, who knows what they would be prepared to do?"

O'Leary joined The X Factor in 2007 – a year before the Girls Aloud star's arrival as judge on the ITV show.