Sick prankster is first ‘killer clown’ jailed in UK after chasing terrified pregnant woman with axe on night before Halloween
AN axe wielding prankster has become the first "killer clown" to be jailed in the UK after he chased a pregnant woman the night before Halloween.
Michael March, 18, is thought to be the first person imprisoned following the craze that swept across the UK after his attempt at a prank went horribly wrong.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he terrified a couple walking past him after banging the foot-long axe on the floor in South Shields just after 9pm the day before Halloween last year.
The woman, who was 22 weeks pregnant, threw a brick at him in an attempt to defend herself before he ran off.
Jailing him for six months today, Judge Jamie Hill QC said: "Brandishing an axe and threatening people in the street is serious whatever the context."
The night before Halloween last year, March waited for the pair to walk past the car park of a pub before banging an axe on the ground - but the joke went badly "wrong".
The mum-to-be was so frightened she threw a brick at him in a bid to scare him off, magistrates were told.
March, of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, who was 17 at the time, was joining in the so-called killer clown craze that swept the nation last year and claimed it was a joke that went wrong.
He pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article at a hearing at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.
Paul Anderson, prosecuting, said March had planned to wait in the car park of the Sand Dancer pub in Sea Road, South Shields, at about 9.10pm.
Mr Anderson said the woman called police and said “she had been chased by a male wearing a clown mask, brandishing an axe”.
Two teens ran off and were traced on CCTV and March was arrested.
He still had the axe and police found a mask in his backpack.
Magistrates heard he told police: “I’m sorry, I was not going to hurt her.”
Mr Anderson said March told officers “he had this axe and he was banging it on the floor to scare people”.
He added: “It had the desired effect because she picked up a brick and threw it at him.
“He tried to explain it was a prank and ran off in something of a panic.
“He said it was all meant to be a joke that went badly wrong.”
Magistrates declined to sentence him and sent the case to the crown court.
He was granted unconditional bail.
He had been due to be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court for possession of an offensive weapon on a previous occasion but the case was sent back to magistrates because it was decided the appropriate charge was possession of a bladed article.
Prosecutors at the crown court hearing accepted he only intended to scare the victim and not use the weapon, meaning he should have pleaded to the lesser offence of having the bladed article.
Back in October, the chilling epidemic was rife in the USA, as witnesses reported spotting men in clown costumes trying to lure kids into the woods.
As authorities feared for the safety of children, multiple safety warnings were issued by the US police.
The craze reached the UK with bizarre reports of clowns scaring adults and children.
Schoolchildren in Newcastle were terrified as people dressed as clowns and jumped out from bushes to scare them.
Drivers in Manchester were startled to see two clowns running at their cars, and a mum-of-two was left with terrified children after one jumped on her car.
A masked man carrying a knife left a group of children aged 11 and 12 “upset and distressed” when he jumped out on their way to the Hermitage Academy in Chester-le-Street, County Durham.
And in Suffolk, a boy “younger than a teenager” was chased by “several people dressed as clowns” in Beatty Road, Sudbury.
A school in Essex was kept on lockdown after two clowns in a black van approached female students and invited them to party.
Clacton County High School kept its 1,600 students in over their lunch break over fears about the clowns striking again.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.