A shopping centre has banned clowns and removed products featuring the characters from its displays.

Fremlin Walk, in Maidstone, says it is responding to the recent spate of pranks which has involved people dressed up, before jumping out at people and scaring them.

Scares have been reported in Maidstone, Paddock Wood,Ashford and Medway, with police appealing for people to act responsibly as the force dealt with 60 clown-related incidents in just three days.

Fremlin Walk has also gone a step further and instructed its entertainment providers not to feature clowns in their acts. Items now removed from displays include masks and images featuring the characters.

In a statement, the centre said: "We have today taken steps to ban the recent ‘killer clown’ scare pranks.

"We are a family shopping destination and the practice of deliberately trying to terrify unsuspecting members of the public, without any thought or knowledge of their physical or mental health, is unacceptable.

"Public backlash and revenge attacks have further reinforced our decision."

The statement comes just weeks ahead of its Halloween celebrations.

LLoyd Wright, centre manager, said: "Our celebrations are targeted towards family groups and are deliberately light-hearted.

"Halloween is a great opportunity for children to dress up and for families to get together. There’s a fine line between fun and horror, it’s quite telling the most popular children’s Halloween costumes are superheroes and princesses."

He added: "While our clown ban is clearly targeted toward teenage and adult pranksters, we’ve taken the decision to also remove clown images, masks and characters from our Halloween events.

"There are plenty of other themes to embrace."