Stop this killer clown craze now, urge police
POLICE yesterday slammed the menacing craze for dressing up as killer clowns to scare bystanders.
Fuelled by social media, there has been a nationwide surge in the last few days of people dressing up in the intimidating masks.
Officers warned it was only a matter of time before someone was seriously hurt and promised to take tough action against culprits.
Catherine Hankinson, Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, said it was ‘menacing craze’ which was causing fear.
Motorist Kurtis Mulvaney, 29, took a photo of two clowns armed with a machete peering in his window at traffic lights near Manchester Fort shopping centre on Sunday.
The events organiser said: ‘They were causing havoc. One driver just drove through a red light as he didn’t want to stop near them. They were probably between 16 and 20. They had a machete but I don’t think it was real.’
One of these culprits is thought to have leapt onto Alice Slattery’s bonnet as she drove her daughters Lily, four, and Honey, three. The 28-year-old, of Swinton, Greater Manchester, forced him off by driving away as a second lurked nearby. ‘ It was like a horror movie,’ she said. ‘He was leaning on his elbow as if posing. He didn’t have a normal clown mask on – it was a scary one.’
In Bloxwich, Walsall, on the same day, a man in a clown mask and red wig ran towards the car being driven by Shaniece Price, 22, and tried to get in, The betting shop worker has a phobia of clowns and nearly crashed before pulling over and fleeing into a pub.
But the man followed her. ‘He pointed at me and gestured that he would slit my throat, stared at me for five minutes and then left,’ she said. ‘It was horrible.’
In Plymouth, a clown wielding a hammer confronted George Birkbeck, 22, as he was on a night out. Another clown was seen on the main A61 into Sheffield driving a mobility scooter. Friends at a restaurant in Bracknell, Berkshire, were shocked to see a killer clown at the window, staring in at them.
In Chorley, Lancashire, a prowler in a clown costume lurked outside a family’s home before leaving when they shouted at him.