Halloween House 'Too Spooky' For Children

A man has been told by police to tone down his Halloween decorations after a display of disembowelled corpses made a child cry.

James Creighton, 25, has decorated the outside of his house with skeletons, bloodied corpses and cobwebs in a display dubbed Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The bar owner transforms his house in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, every year to raise money for Cancer Research UK in memory of his grandmother who died from the disease in 2009.

But he had a nasty shock when two police officers knocked on his door to tell him a parent had complained it was frightening children.

Mr Creighton said: "The police came round knocking on my door. They said they were sorry to disturb me but they had a complaint from a member of the public who walks past my house in the morning.

"Apparently their child starts crying every time they walk past my house.

"I was shocked - more to the point that the parent couldn't come to the door themselves and speak to me personally, but had to get the police involved and waste their time.

"Police have asked me to put black tarpaulin along the fence so the kids can't see it, but why should I do that? It ruins the whole rest of the display for everyone else.

"All the other kids love it. It is just this one who doesn't like it.

"It is a bit gruesome, it's a bit gory, but that is Halloween, it is meant to be fun and scary. It is all for a good cause."

Mr Creighton claims this is the first complaint he has ever received.

Last year he raised £1,100 for the charity, and has collected £1,358 so far this month.

The 25-year-old said he was disappointed when police told him about the complaint on Tuesday lunchtime because the exhibition is "just a bit of fun".

Despite the objection, Mr Creighton, who has received donations from as far afield as the US and Mexico, said he is determined to keep the display up and raise as much money as possible for charity.

He said: "I'm definitely going to keep it up, but it has made me think that for next year I might be a bit more wary, which is a bit of a shame.

"But I'm not going to stop. It is something that reminds me of my nan and it is for a good cause."