Who's laughing now? 'Killer clown' gets his comeuppance after picking the wrong victim

A baseball-bat wielding prankster dressed as a clown was headbutted by one of his victims when his stunt backfired.

Ashley Symes, 23, tried to cash in on the so-called "killer clown" craze by scaring strangers in an underground car park at the Dockside Outlet Centre, Chatham.

But he was left with a bloody nose when one of his targets turned on him, punching him in the face, the Daily Mail reports.

Wearing creepy clown make up and a red wig, Symes, a customer service worker, is seen terrorising unsuspecting passersby on streets after dark.

He later moves inside, waiting behind the wall of a car park stairwell for motorists walking towards their vehicles.

One man and his friend walk into the car park and Symes jumps out, screaming and waving his baseball bat.

The quick-thinking victim stands his ground and appears to headbutt the apparent attacker. His friend then throws his milkshake over the "clown".

Symes' friend, who is filming the encounter, runs towards the men saying, "it's a prank! It's a prank!"

In the youtube video, Symes is seen dragging the bat across the floor and chasing other "victims", who run towards their car before speeding off.

He was left with a bloody nose.

Symes, who made the video for YouTube channel KickItWithAsh, said: "I always wanted to do pranks, I follow a lot of American pranksters on YouTube, and with all the news stories about clowns I thought I'd do something no one in the UK had done.

"A lot of people I scared said it was funny, even the man that punched me said it was funny."

He added: "If it's done well,in a controlled way it's harmless. We try to let the people know what is going on.

"As long as there's no harm done people should see it as a joke.

"I was trying to go for a younger audience I didn't want to target older people in case they had health conditions."

It comes as the so-called 'killer clown' prank craze continues to sweep across the country, with police forces reporting dozens of related incidents in the last 24 hours.