Mum pops clown's balloon in Poundland after he made children cry - watch the video
Shoppers in a Poundland store gave a round of applause to a mother who popped the balloon of a clown who had made children cry.
Louise Pinhorne was shopping on Tuesday when she and a friend heard screaming and shop alarms going off.
Video credit: Niamh Caswell
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Hide AdThe 44-year-old said: "We were by the EE shop [in Waterlooville, Hampshire] and heard a girl scream. We turned around and a clown came out of the shop.
"The girl was really scared and upset. I told him that it was a horrible thing to do to scare people and he was going around the street doing it to people.
"There were some children crying because they were scared but he wouldn’t take his mask off to show them he wasn’t real.
"He just showed no remorse."
The clown spotted in Waterlooville
The determined mother-of-one followed the clown, dressed in a Pennywise costume from film IT, into Poundland.
She said: "I took my earring off and popped the balloon.
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Hide Ad"I know it is near Halloween but I said to him it is not right to scare people trying to earn a living.
"My son is autistic and if he had been with me I know he would have gone ballistic and got really upset."
A photo of the clown was posted on Facebook by The Pink Party Shop after the man went in to the shop to purchase the red balloon.
A spokeswoman for The Pink Party Shop in Waterlooville said: "The man called us up and asked if we sold red balloons. He then came in to the shop and bought a red balloon.
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Hide Ad"He said he was doing something for charity and we thought he looked great in his costume so we took a photo and put it on social media.
"We didn’t realise at all what he was going to do and it was nothing to do with us. We do dress up in the shop because that is our business but we would never scare people in the street."
It comes after a trend of ‘killer clowns’ that started a few years ago.
By Millie Salkeld
Originally published on our sister title, The News