Paedophiles could use Halloween to dress up as creepy clowns and abuse children, leading charity warns
Killer clowns continue to terrorise people across the UK
A CHILDREN'S charity has warned that paedophiles could use Halloween as an opportunity to molester young girls.
The NSPC issued the stark warning after 500 scared youngsters contacted Childline in just three weeks.
Nearly a third of counselling sessions carried out by the charity on the subject of clowns were with children under the age of 11 - reaching 139 in total - and three quarters of those who got in touch over clown fears were girls.
The contacts to Childline revealed a mixture of children afraid of clowns after seeing scary videos online and on social media, as well as those threatened or frightened by creepy clowns in their neighbourhood.
The charity is now warning anyone who deliberately intimidates a child is committing an offence.
An NSPCC spokesperson said: "Wearing spooky fancy dress for Halloween is a time-honoured tradition.
"But we fear the recent creepy clown craze could see Halloween used as an opportunity to molest, intimate or harm children.
"Creepy clowns are all trick and no treat; those dressing up with the intention of threatening children need to be aware that they could be breaking the law - particularly if they are carrying weapons.
The warning comes after police hunt a number of clown attackers up and down the UK.
Lancashire Police are hunting a killer clown 'prankster' in Bolton-le-Sands, near Lancaster, who ran at a trio of young girls armed with a baseball bat.
The mystery culprit sounded a loud air-horn to add to the terror as the screaming girls, aged about 13, fled in fright.
Detectives said the youngest of the trio was still "traumatised by the incident" and an investigation to track down the scary clown was now underway.
Earlier this month a Lancashire primary school warned parents to keep an eye on their kids after a 10-year-old pupil was chased by somebody wearing a creepy clown outfit.
Other reports have included a clown with a machete threatening two teenage girls in Suffolk and in a separate incident in Deighton, West Yorkshire, three knife-wielding clowns tried to snatch a three-month-old baby from her mother.
In Dinnington, South Yorkshire, 17-year-old Owen Russell was left needing stitches after a man in an alleyway wearing a clown mask threw a branch at his head.
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