Is the Northampton Clown coming back? Man behind the mask says he is the 'original'

In the past few weeks, there have been dozens of reportings of people dressed as clowns and frightening children across the UK.

Thames Valley Police reported on Sunday that the force had been called to 14 incidents across the region where people have reported being intimidated or frightened by others dressed as clowns.

Three years ago, Northampton was the focus of worldwide media attention after Alex Powell, a student at the University of Northampton, began posting pictures of himself online dressed as a clown.

Mr Powell said at the time that he never intended to scare people but saw it as a “harmless bit of fun”. He has condemned the people dressed as clowns who are alleged to have been carrying weapons such as knives.

Mr Powell said: “I just wanted to amuse people.

“Most people enjoy being a bit freaked out and then they can laugh about it afterwards.

“It’s like watching a horror movie, when people get scared they usually start laughing.

“Naturally, some people would have been extremely frightened by what they saw, but I hope many are starting to see it as a bit of harmless fun.”

On his Instagram account today (Monday) Mr Powell has posted a picture of the clown suit with a caption hinting at a comeback.

The post states: “Time to dust of this old thing and show these foreign clowns who the real clown is... #northamptonclown #original #halloween #comeback #northampton #clown”

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