Fears of a Clown
As craze sweeps the nation we speak to unlikely victims
A the "killer clown" craze spreads across the North East, and the whole of the UK, one innocent Durham man says it's resulting in death threats for him.
"I've had fan mail, people saying they think I'm great- they understand what I'm doing is just photography, I'm not scaring people.
"And then I've had people saying things like 'are you a paedophile?'
"I've had death threats- like they'd take me to the **woods and shoot me."
29-year-old James (pictured above as CoCo) is a horror photographer but his art is being tarred by young people dressing in masks, wielding knives and scaring people across our region.
In the last few weeks there's been around 50 reports of "killer clown" incidents to our police forces, luckily there's been no reports of any physical violence as of yet, but James says he fears that'll soon change:
“I did a photo shoot the other day and I was nervous to it. We had permission from the farmer but I thought on the way over, I thought if I get caught in the clown suit I’ll be in so much bother.
“Now you’ve got gangs of people looking for so called clowns with baseball bats, they’re a danger to the public as well.”
Just some of the messages James has been sent.
17-year-old Megan Bell was left shaken when she was chased by a clown last week.
"The fact someone was chasing me and I felt so vulnerable, it was just so scary.
"I just turned and sprinted, I was chased for about 20-30 seconds and then I rang my Grandad to come and pick me up because I was so shaken up and crying.
"They're terrifying and terrorising young children- they're too scared to leave the house."
There's calls now for shops to take ownership of the problem and stop selling clown masks and outfits, but in the run up to Hallowe'en that's easier said then done with the "killer clown" look being the number 1 most wanted outfit of 2016.
Pat Clarke runs Abitovadu in Newcastle - they've taken steps to avoid it clown costumes getting into the wrong hands.
"We have got clowns but we have taken them away at the moment.
"I would hate somebody to be terrified and I was **behind selling that costume to somebody.
"Something could happen, because eventually something will happen to somebody.