School placed in lockdown after pair of clowns in black van approach two female students and invite them to party
Clacton County High School in Essex forced to keep students in over lunch after incident at 9.20am
CREEPY clowns sent a school into lockdown after approaching two female students on their way to classes.
The girls were asked if they wanted to go to a birthday party by the pair in a black van at 9.20am on Wednesday.
Clacton County High School, in Clacton, Essex, kept its 1,600 students in over their lunch break over fears about the prankster clowns striking again.
Police are now considering whether the incident could be inspired by similar cases in the United States, in which people dressed as clowns reportedly jump out of bushes and chase pedestrians.
The coeducational secondary school said they were keeping students on site as a "precaution".
The incident came as a clown was caught on camera in Manchester walking along a street in broad daylight.
Graham Alan Lowndes-Buckley, who spotted the clown in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, said he couldn’t believe his eyes.
He saw the man wearing a hockey mask and a ‘blood’ covered poncho while travelling home from work on the bus at around 5.30pm.
Graham said the spooky figure was walking down the road, close to a block of flats and an industrial unit.
He said: “On my way home from work on the 216 on Thursday. I get to Katherine Street and saw the guy, I had to get it on video. I didn’t believe it to be honest.
“I’ve seen the videos in the news about America and how this ‘craze’ is spreading but never expected to see it for real.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t around the time schools finish, otherwise there would have been madness.”
Graham later posted the video on Facebook.
He wrote: “The guy had a hockey mask covered in blood, a poncho with blood on the back and front...just walking down the street staring at people and pointing then shouting.”
Many people already have a fear of clowns thanks to the likes of the fictional Pennywise, from Stephen King's IT, and the real-life killer clown John Wayne Gacy.
Now the creepy craze's arrival in the UK has prompted a flurry of panic on social media.
Clacton MP Douglas Carswell said there are "some things they do in America we are wise to avoid."
Essex police say this is the only clown-related scare they are investigating at the moment.
The school released a statement reassuring parents that it is "business as usual".
In other sightings around the country Northumberland Police said they received six separate reports of clowns since last Friday.
Schoolchildren in Newcastle were terrified as people dressed as clowns and jumped out from bushes to scare them.
A Welsh town has also been subject to a terrifying reign of a clown with passing motorists and residents on alert.
One brave youngster filmed the creepy clown near a children's play area in Caernafarnon, and some people say they have seen the haunting sight in the town for the past two months.
Justin Martin Lee, from Martin Lee Car Sales, posted a video of a clown on a mobility scooter in Sheffield on Facebook and it has now been viewed more than 17,000 times.
He said: "He just shot past and we managed to get the phone out. It was just very strange."
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