A Penyrheol man who frightened young children by dressing as a clown outside their school has been fined by police.
Connor Jones, 18, was visited by officers yesterday after he took part in the ‘creepy clown craze’ currently sweeping the country.
Dressed as a creepy clown, Jones had stood on the pedestrian bridge outside Hendre Infants School and St Cenydd School in Trecenydd at around 3pm on Friday, October 7.
School staff were so concerned they issued a warning to parents vis its messaging app.
Jones has been handed a £90 fine and left with a criminal record for a public order offence. He is believed to be the first clown caught by police in the country.
One parent, who was collecting their children from the school when Jones was dressed as the clown, said: “The teachers were in the yard [of the infants school] and they moved the children away because he was doing it. Then we had a message on the school’s app warning us that someone was dressed as a clown.”
He added: “There is a time and place to have a laugh and a joke, but outside a school on a Friday afternoon?”
Chief Inspector Paul Staniforth said: “Gwent Police will not tolerate such behaviour and anyone seeking to cause distress and potential harm to anyone will be dealt with.
“In this case, not only is this man out of pocket, he will now have a criminal record which will impact his future, including any job opportunities.
“I hope this result sends a strong message to anyone thinking about taking part in this craze, that their five minutes of what they may think is fun really isn’t worth it.”
The ‘creepy clown craze’ that’s sweeping the country sees individuals parading the streets dressed as clowns. Police across the UK have been inundated with reports of clowns jumping out, chasing people and carrying “weapons”.
Several police forces, including Gwent Police, have issued warnings to people thinking about taking part.
In Caerphilly County Borough, there have been seven reports of clowns being spotted in places such as Trecenydd, Morrisons car park and Lansbury Park in Caerphilly town, Bargoed, and outside Rhymney Comprehensive School.
Chief Inspector Staniforth added: “[Across Gwent] we’ve now received 18 reports of people dressed up as clowns throughout Gwent. Some of the reports have included, clowns running through gardens and peering through windows, lurking around shopping centres, parks and schools and jumping from trees. Fortunately, to date, we’ve had no reports of anyone being harmed during these reports.
“The behaviour of these individuals has the potential to cause shock and panic and we are extremely concerned that this could result in somebody becoming seriously injured or unwell.
“Gwent Police will not tolerate such behaviour and anyone seeking to cause distress and potential harm to anyone will be arrested for a Public Order offence (Public Order – Section 5: Harassment, Alarm or Distress or Section 4: Threatening, Abusive or Insulting).
“They could then potentially end up with a criminal record. In addition to this, if you are caught carrying a weapon or an imitation weapon the consequences of your criminal actions will be a lot more serious.
“Another serious issue that people taking part in this craze are not thinking of is the impact on our resources. Every call that comes in, is taking our officers away from people that need us most.
“My message is to those thinking about involving themselves in these sort of crimes is think. Think about the impact on the children, the elderly, the public and the consequences of what you’re doing.”
The Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert, said: “We want people to enjoy themselves and although the creepy clown craze may seem like harmless fun on the surface, it is quite frightening to those who experience it, especially for young children and older people who may feel vulnerable.
“We have heard how children have been understandably upset and distressed by some incidents. People need to think about the consequences of their action on others. This practice could be dangerous as calls from distressed residents can tie up resources which should be responding to more serious incidents.”
One thing not mentioned here, regarding this silly fad, is the possible danger to the idiots wearing the clown costumes. They go out with the intention of frightening people, sometimes the reaction to fear is to run, with some other people the reaction will be to go into the attack.
I think that soon we will get reports of serious injury done to these clowns after they have startled somebody or frightened children in their care.
Very true if one of these fools thinks it’s funny to frighten my family he won’t need to wear a fake red nose he’ll have a real red nose to go with his two black eyes, well done to the police for dishing out a fine and a public order offence to the cretin, every employer in Wales take a good look at his face and remember the name.
This is going to happen all too often to these people dressing up. The place for this activity is a fancy dress party, to take delight in scaring children on the streets is extremely deviant behaviour.
Sadly Cllr, its already happened…
Yes, I read that in the newspaper today. I hope that anyone who has the idea, particularly as Haloween approaches, that dressing up like this to frighten strangers is ‘just fun’, thinks again.
How much lower can our social norms sink?