Four Local Clowns

10-year-old girl scared to go out after clown carrying 'sledgehammer' approached her in park
By South Wales Evening Post  |  Posted: October 12, 2016

By Abby Bolter

FOUR people wearing clown masks, one of them holding what was described as a sledgehammer, have left a 10-year-old afraid to leave her home.

They approached the girl and her friend in a park in Bridgend, leaving them terrified.


There have been reports across Wales of people dressed as clowns scaring people in public places.

One person was fined this week for dressing up as a clown at a school and scaring the children.


Above: A man dressed as a clown was given a criminal record for frightening children at a school

In Bridgend, Lacie Payne, 10, was playing in the park in Barnes Avenue, Cefn Glas, with her nine-year-old friend when she said four people in clown masks emerged from trees and came towards them.

Mum Kayley Payne said: "My partner got a phone call and my daughter was screaming, 'Dad, dad, dad'.

"He just slammed the phone down and ran out."

The mum-of-five, who lives just off Barnes Avenue, said the people wearing the masks had gone by the time Lacie's stepdad Peter Maton got to the park.

She said her daughter believed one of them had a sledgehammer.

"My daughter said she thought it was older boys because she could hear them saying 'Ha ha ha,'" added Kayley.

"Then as soon as they saw her pulling out her phone they ran off."


She said her daughter, a pupil at Llangewydd Junior School, was 'jumpy' now and would not got to bed without the light on.

"She doesn't want to walk to school or go to after school clubs."

She reported the incident to South Wales Police and after posting a warning on Facebook, discovered other parents in the Cefn Glas and Broadlands area of Bridgend had reported similar incidents.

Commenting on the report, a South Wales Police spokeswoman said: "At 4.35pm on Saturday, October 8, police in Bridgend responded to a report of young children being approached and screamed at by four people wearing clown masks while playing in a park near Barnes Avenue, Cefn Glas.

"We would again like to remind members of the public that dressing in costumes with the intention of frightening others is not without consequence and that those doing so could be committing an offence.