The “killer clown” craze that is sweeping the UK after gaining notoriety in the US is wasting emergency resources and pranksters are being urged to consider the consequences, police say. “The reports have been made in the Gloucester area and have mostly involved clowns carrying knives. Around the same time, a man dressed as a clown “wearing a hockey mask and a blood-stained poncho” was captured on camera in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. Tom Jackson, 18, a student at Leeds Beckett University, said he was scared by a man dressed as a clown near an underpass in Leeds at 4.30am on Friday. People on social media have also reported clown sightings in Cheshire, North Wales, Dundee, Norwich, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

Source: The Guardian October 08, 2016 11:40 UTC