Headteacher blasted for using fake gun in hoax kidnapping stunt

A headteacher was criticised after he used a fake gun to stage a mock kidnapping in front of pupils as young as nine. Clive Close was told he could have been shot by armed police if he had tried the stunt in an inner city school.

He insisted none of the youngsters were alarmed by the hoax put on as part as part of a creative writing session at Wincheap Primary School in Canterbury, Kent. But some parents said he had gone over the top. One commented: ‘Primary school children should not be scared stiff in class. If this took place at an inner city primary school the headteacher could well have been shot dead by armed police.’



The youngsters, aged nine and ten, were not warned about the stunt. Mr Close, wearing a bright red wig, drove into the school car park in his Audi and screeched to a halt. They watched from their classroom window as he leapt out and grabbed his ‘victim’ – school site manager Phil Reid. The head, who was dressed in a white jump suit and was using a tap as a pretend gun, bundled Mr Reid into his car before he sped off.

Later, Mr Close insisted most of the children realised it was a hoax. ‘The kids wrote some fantastic stuff on the back of it and what they had witnessed,’ he said. Pupil Alex Chapman added: ‘I prefer learning like this because it makes it more exciting.’