© Owen Humphreys/PA
Michael March terrified a couple walking past him after banging a foot-long axe on the floor in South Shields
Michael March terrified a couple walking past him after banging a foot-long axe on the floor in South Shields
Michael March, 18, is thought to be the first person imprisoned following the craze that swept across the UK.
Newcastle Crown Court heard he terrified a couple walking past him after banging the foot long axe on the floor in South Shields just after 9pm.
The woman, who was 22 weeks pregnant, threw a brick at him in an attempt to defend herself before he ran off.
Jailing him for six months, Judge Jamie Hill QC said: "Brandishing an axe and threatening people in the street is serious whatever the context."
Nicholas Rooke, prosecuting, told the court that after the police were called they traced March via CCTV and found him with the axe and a clown mask in his backpack.
"He claimed it was a prank saying he had himself been chased by killer clowns in Gateshead and he thought he would scare people as part of a prank," he said.
Vic Laffey, defending, said March had no previous convictions and that he lived with his grandparents and helped care for his grandfather. He said he accepted his actions had been "foolish and reckless" and that it must have been a frightening incident.
"When he was apprehended his first words were 'I was not going to hurt anyone'," he said. "This was a Halloween prank gone horribly wrong."
He had tried to convince the judge that he should have avoided jail, as at the time of the offence he was 17 years old.
