A 10-YEAR-OLD girl from Bromsgrove has stood up to two of the country’s largest supermarket chains to demand that their “inappropriate” clown costumes be taken off the shelves.

Esme Pettman, of Aston Fields, contacted the Advertiser after spotting the Halloween outfits while shopping with her mum in the Bromsgrove Asda and Morrisons stores.

She was appalled that the companies were still selling the stock in the midst of a “killer clown” craze, where pranksters across the country are dressing up to jump out on unsuspecting victims, often armed with a knife. One was spotted as near as Lickey Hills Golf Course.

Esme, who is a pupil at Aston Fields Middle School, said: “I’ve seen all the clowns in the news and I just think it’s inappropriate to sell them in the shops. I know it’s Halloween getting close but I just think that what they’re doing is a bit mean. A simple spider trick or something would do instead of jumping out at people. Sometimes they have knives and people get so scared that they think they might get beaten up.

“I don’t really like clowns anyway but now I get scared that, when I go out, I might run into a clown.”

Esme used her mum Bernadette’s phone to call the stores’ managers when she got home, but was told there was little they could do.

A spokesman for Morrisons said: “We have no plans to withdraw the costumes.”

Asda has since agreed to remove all clown-related products, not only from its Buntsford Park Road branch, but from all of its stores and website.

An Asda spokesman said: “Halloween is a fun time for all the family and we love to take part with some fantastic fancy dress.

"However, we’ve decided to take the remaining clown-like products in our stores off sale and don’t plan on restocking them.

"We’re sorry for the inconvenience and suggest customers try some of our other spooktacular costumes.”

Esme said she was “pretty happy” with the result.

She is now looking forward to going trick-or-treating with her sister, when she will be dressing up a skeleton.