Masked man arrested near Heathrow

A MAN has been charged after residents in Hayes reported a person wearing a clown mask and carrying a suspected firearm.

Armed police were called to the sighting in the Church Green area, near Heathrow Aiport, on Tuesday October 11.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said at the time: “Armed officers from Heathrow’s Aviation Policing Unit stopped a car in Uxbridge Road, Hillingdon, and an imitation firearm was recovered.

“The driver was arrested on suspicion of possession of an imitation firearm and taken into custody at a west London police station.”

The craze of pranking or scaring people while wearing a clown costume began in America but has sparked numerous incidents across the UK. Metropolitan Police officers warned that people faced arrest and further action could be taken if their actions passed the criminal threshold.

George Steven Williams, 52, of Woodstock Gardens, Hayes, has been charged with a Section 4 public order offence in connection with the Hayes incident and is now due to appear in court in mid-November.