FANCY dress shops have been warned NOT to sell clown suits to children because of the rise of the "killer clown" craze.
Northumbria Police have made the unprecedented move after receiving 20 reports of mask-wearing degenerates scaring people across the North East.
Durham schoolchildren have been stalked by a knife-wielding "clown" and a Gateshead College student was chased down a street in Fenham.
The Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle is also on a so-called list of targets circulating online from Instagram account "Killer Clowns North East".
Northumbria Police has asked local retailers to only sell to clown outfits to adults “to try and avoid further incidents”.
The "Killer Clown" phenomenon originated in the US but has now crossed the Altantic, with a slew of clown-related incidents having been reported across the UK in the last few days.
Related stories
Graeme Shaw, 36, a business partner at Magic Box on Percy Street, Newcastle, says sales of clown costumes for children at their store has soared since the craze started.
He said: “Clowns as a Halloween costume have always been popular.
“But we have noticed a huge recent increase in sales – it probably is the most popular costume this year.
“Younger kids aged around six or seven with their parents are actually now buying the costume.
“The news coverage of the craze is actually making the costumes more popular, rather than the actual actions themselves.”
The Magic Box has not altered its sales policy in the wake of the craze, with Graeme indicating the business could not prejudice against customers.
He added: “It is a prank that is going too far. But when we sell costumes, we can’t judge people on what we think they are going to do with them when they buy it.”
This week, the RVI in Newcastle was put on alert after being named as a target in an online ‘hit list’.
An email was sent to staff informing them to be vigilant and report any suspicious activity to site security staff.
A hospital spokesman said: “Site security staff have been informed to attend and remove from site any persons found to be acting in the way suggested.
“Police are also notified – we will be discussing this issue with them at the Trusts Security Group.”
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTErKynZpOke7a3jqecsKtfZoZ2hZNwbmiekaOwunnDq5ysq12otbC80maumqqemrFuus6tZK2nXaiyrbiMpKClpJWneqS4zrClZpufqMG2ucSsZK2nXaC2pb%2BMmqpmm6KWx6Z5wqilraGeqrK0ew%3D%3D