A PENSIONER is 'scared' that a sinister craze sweeping the nation will force her to hang up her clown costume after almost half a century of entertaining children.

Sheila Arndt, of Richmond Drive, Leigh, is still performing as Cheeky the Clown at the age of 72.

She can often be seen in full costume at Tesco and Asda in Leigh raising money for the Atherton and Leigh Foodbank with her monkey puppet.

But she fears people will be wary of her alter ego now that a blight on America which sees pranksters dressing up as scary-looking clowns in a bid to frighten others has made its way over the Atlantic.

Sheila said: “I am very concerned that this recent craze of nasty clowns is going to give the nice ones a bad reputation.

"I hope everyone knows that not all clowns are bad.

“All the children in the area know me and come up to me in the street, even when I am not in my costume, to ask me when I will be Cheeky the Clown next and where my puppet monkey is.

“This makes me feel like I have an extended family, but I am scared that will stop with these silly people causing trouble for real clowns."

Sheila, who first started working as a clown while she was living in Zimbabwe in her mid-20s and continued doing so when she moved to Leigh 20 years ago, added: “I became a clown to make people happy and I love it, otherwise I would not still be doing it at my age.

"But these disturbing stories coming from America have everybody scared.”

Greater Manchester Police are also concerned about the scary clown craze.

Assistant chief constable Catherine Hankinson said: “We are aware of this menacing craze and will take action against those who are causing this fear.

“There has been a lot of speculation on social media and I am urging people to refrain from fuelling this craze and creating more distress.

“The safety of people is our upmost priority – we want people to feel safe going about their daily lives.

“The individuals who are getting involved in this may not realise just how frightening it is to be on the receiving end, especially for children.

"It shows a complete disregard for people’s wellbeing and will not be tolerated in Greater Manchester.

“It is important to stress that no-one has been physically harmed and I want to reassure people that we take reports of this nature extremely seriously.”