The pathetic ‘killer clown’ craze has seen a number of fake sightings reported on the internet.

However, surely none are quite as fabricated as this tip-off by a Derbyshire Times reader, which would have been better suited to Springfield than Chesterfield.

The picture sent in by the reader shows Simpsons funnyman Krusty the Clown making a fist at Bart Simpson.

Staff at the Times saw the funny side despite the dead-end lead though, with chief reporter Michael Broomhead publishing his private Facebook exchange with the prankster on social media.

Michael told HTFP: “All these fools going around dressed as creepy clowns is no laughing matter – but this private message raised a smile in the Derbyshire Times’ newsroom.

“It’s had almost 500 likes on Facebook and it’s been seen by nearly 11,000 people on Twitter – so hopefully it’ll have made everyone chuckle amid all the horror sightings.”