“A gang of robbers dressed as clowns tied up a shopkeeper and pointed a shotgun at him before they were chased through Manchester city centre.

“The three men in fancy dress entered Brannigans in Peter Street at 1000 BST on Monday,” The BBC reports.

They handcuffed the trainee manager and threatened him with a sawn-off shotgun and a 10-inch knife before they fled with a small amount of money.

Their white Transit van was followed through the centre of Manchester and was involved in three separate accidents before the clowns ran from the vehicle and escaped.

— No easy task, what with those big floppy shoes of theirs…

[Related news: Barbara Gordon, daughter of Police Commissioner Gordon, “bitch-slapped” repeatedly by someone calling himself “The Clown Prince of Crime”; local millionnaire Bruce Wayne “irate,” mumbles something about “henchmen” and a cave.]