WITH sightings of ‘Killer Clowns’ on the up in Herefordshire, a professional clown living at Pembridge has hit out at the bizarre craze currently spreading across the country.

Dr Michael Hancock, who trained in the art of clowning with the Cirque de Soleil in Canada, argues that current waves of random ‘clown’ appearances are totally at odds with a profession he believes is a vocation.

“Terrorising people is nothing to do with clowning,” said Dr Hancock, who has worked as a professional clown for over 20 years.

More recently, the Pembridge parish councillor has run clown workshops in Hereford at the Courtyard.

As police investigated another incident of a clown walking towards a car on Hereford’s Ross Road on Sunday night, Dr Hancock feels the phenomenon is rooted in the dressing up tradition of Hallowe’en.

“I feel very strongly that this craze misrepresents professional clowns who treat their audiences with absolute respect,” he said.

“Mischief is very different from terrorising people.”

He continued: “Putting on a mask liberates you from inhibitions, the make-up and costume makes people behave in a completely different way. I think that people putting on these masks are having what they think is a good time, but actually scaring people. That is nothing to do with clowning.”

Dr Hancock’s move into the art was originally to help his stage work as a classical actor and singer. But he became so “enraptured”

with clowning he undertook rigorous training with Cirque de Soleil in Montreal before eventually working in shows in Germany.

In Berlin he worked as a clown in a restaurant. “I was maitre d’, a clown embedded in the staff.”

After moving to the county, he worked as co-ordinator of a project to break down barriers between northern and southern areas of Hereford.

He said there was a growing interest in the horror genre of zombies and vampires, and reports of people dressed as clowns wielding baseball bats and machetes were “quite shocking”.

He said: “These people are not clowns, and the idea of clowns doing things to terrorise is incorrect.

This is an adolescent prank, and while people are getting so worked up, I believe it will blow over.”