'It's making children cry': Police tell man to tone down annual charity Halloween display in honour of his grandmother



Angry parent complained macabre display was 'scaring children'



James Creighton branded the reaction 'ridiculous'

Bar worker creates gruesome display each year for Cancer Research UK



A Halloween fan who put up a gruesome display of 'disembowelled corpses' outside his home has been asked by police to tone it down.

James Creighton, 25, was told that his scene was making children cry with its macabre reconstruction of a scene from The Texas Chainshaw Massacre.

He has put the display up outside his house in Stevenage to raise funds for charity every year since his grandmother died in 2009.

James Creighton was 'shocked' when police officers knocked on the door of his Stevenage home. He creates the annual display to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of his gran Betty, who died in 2009

But one parent complained to Hertfordshire Constabulary, concerned that the collection of 'bloody corpses and gory skeletons' was scaring young children.

But Mr Creighton said: 'I can't believe it to be honest. I can't see what I've done wrong.'

The decorations were assembled outside the front of his home at the start of the month to support Cancer Research UK.

The annual fundraiser is held in memory of Mr Creighton's beloved grandmother Betty, who died of cancer in 2009.



But on Tuesday, Mr Creighton received a visit from two police officers who asked that he make the set 'less frightening'.

An angry parent complained to police that the gruesome display was reducing children to tears

'When the police turned up I don't think they knew what to say,' he said. 'They told me there had been a complaint and that I needed to "tone it down" by taking some decorations down.

'I'm told someone walks by with young children and they are crying every time they see it.



'The police told me they want me to put a black tarpaulin across the bottom of the fence so children can't see it, but it spoils it for everyone else then.

'It's not something I want to do to be honest. I will admit some of the things I've added to the house this year are quite gory - but that's the whole point of Halloween.

'I always get young children saying "mummy look at that house" and everyone seems to love it.'

He's now hoping to save what he can of his stomach-churning pride and joy.

'I'm sure if the parent had come and spoken to me we could have come to a compromise,' insisted Mr Creighton.

'I don't know why they felt the need to go to the police about it. It's so ridiculous it's almost funny.'

Last October he raised £1,150 for the charity through donations and he has already collected more than £700 so far this year.

Mr Creighton designs a terrifying Halloween display each year to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of his gran Betty, who died from the disease in 2009

'I've been doing it for quite a few years and I've got a big Cancer Research UK banner outside, so everyone knows what it's for,' he added.

'I've always loved Halloween and decorating the house was something that my nan and mum did for me when I was younger.

'So now I'm carrying it on in my nan's memory and just trying to do my best for her and the charity - it's an excellent cause.'

A Hertfordshire Police spokesman said: 'We have visited a resident of Grove Road in Stevenage concerning a Halloween display in his garden, following a complaint from a member of the public.

'We have offered words of advice.'

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