A red-faced make-up artist got a slap on the wrist by police who swooped on his home – after he put a fake SEVERED HAND on his doorstep as a prank.
Patrick Plummer, 34, looked on in horror as officers sealed off the street after shocked neighbours spotted the bloodied prop and dialled 999.
He made the grisly prosthetic for a joke at his niece’s 15th birthday party when he put the detachable hand up his sleeve and left the severed finger outside.
Joker Patrick, who makes props for plays and theatre groups, wanted to scare his niece as she came to his home to have her birthday cake last Thursday evening.
After scaring his niece, the family went inside and continued the celebrations leaving the hand and finger on the path outside.
But the party came to an abrupt halt when police put a cordon at the top of his road and heard residents screaming in terror.
When he opened his front door four police officers confronted him about the severed hand.
Bizarrely, the officers didn’t arrest him but bagged the hand up as evidence and confiscated it.
Luckily, police saw the funny side when he put his hands up to the prank and admitted it was a joke.
The dad-of-two said: “I have been making the prosthetics for three years now, I like to make horror movie props.
“I’ve made things for my niece before and she loved them so I figured I would do it again.
“I made a hand and a bloody severed finger to go with it out of liquid latex, we put the finger in the street and I held the hand in my sleeve to make it look like my finger had come off.
“They laughed and we must have left the finger and hand in the street as we all piled in to my house.
“After a few minutes I could hear a few screams coming from outside but just thought it was kids mucking about but when my sister looked up she saw the police out in the street putting up tape.
“I opened my front door and saw people pointing to my house and I realised someone must have thought the hand was real.
“I had to go outside and explain to the officers that it was mine and it wasn’t real as someone had called them saying there was a severed had in the street.
“They said forensic officers were on their way to deal with it and they weren’t too pleased with me.
“When they had a proper look at it they eventually saw the funny side so they weren’t too angry, it’s a good job really.
“In the end one of the police officers could see the funny side. He said, ‘I know where to come for make-up on Halloween,’ shook my hand and gave me a hug.
“I have no idea if it was one of my neighbours or a passerby who called the police, I’d love to have seen their reaction.”
Patrick is hoping to make the hobby a career after starting out face-painting and progressing to the chilling creations.
A Nottinghamshire Police spokesperson said: “When officers arrived at the scene, a man, who was understandably red-faced, told us he was responsible.
“Instead of pointing the finger, we advised him about his actions, which had caused distress.
“He promptly removed the hand and finger and apologised profusely.”
