More clowns spotted in Manchester

These are the latest ‘killer clowns’ to be spotted lurking the streets of Manchester - but the man who pictured them has dismissed them as ‘kids just messing around’.

Kurtis Mulvaney says he was driving through Cheetham Hill when he saw two people - who he thinks were teenagers - wearing black and white clown masks and boiler suits.

When Kurtis, 29, stopped to investigate, the two ‘clowns’ approached his open car window and stared at him, without speaking a word on Sunday evening.

It comes in the wake of police warnings that clown pranksters could be committing public order offences if the cause fear and upset to people.

Many suspected he was scaremongering, with the sinister craze sweeping the nation and terrifying school children.

He insisted the picture, taken on Sunday night, was real - and said people who are scared of clowns are ‘daft’.

Kurtis, who lives in Manchester’s Green Quarter, said he has also been contacted by a mother whose children were left terrified after they saw the same clowns in Cheetham Hill near Manchester Fort shopping centre.

He said the woman told him her kids were in tears after one of the clowns lay on her bonnet.

After people accused him of trying to scare people, he posted:

The ‘killer clown’ craze started in the US with dozens of reports ranging from the comical to outright sinister.There have been reports of people donning terrifying outfits and scaring children across the country - including in Greater Manchester.

An Instagram group called Bury Clown Attack - which has since been removed - named five high schools it claimed would be targeted as part of the bizarre craze, which has been strongly condemned by police.It warned: “We’re coming.”

One angry mum said two youngsters dressed as clowns in Bury left her daughter terrified as she arrived for classes.

A man in a clown mask was reported to have driven up to children and scared them in Stretford on Thursday night.