Simon Chinery 'made up knife-wielding clown attack'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-37634199

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A tradesman lied to police when he said he had been injured while tackling a knife-wielding man dressed as a clown.

Simon Chinery, 28, of Blackburn, Lancashire, told the BBC his right hand had been left unusable after the attack on Sunday night, and said he feared he could no longer work as a joiner.

But Lancashire Police established he had instead hurt his hand while "falling on broken glass".

He has been issued with a penalty notice for wasting police time.

Mr Chinery had claimed he was injured as he tried to disarm the "clown" on Haslingden Road, Blackburn.

A police spokesman said: "After looking into this report we have established that the man was not attacked by a clown and had in fact injured his hand falling on broken glass.

"We are aware that widespread media coverage of this allegation may have been unsettling for local residents and we would like to reassure the public that no crime has taken place on this occasion.

"We work extremely hard investigating serious crime and our time needs to remain focussed on genuine incidents."