A CAMPAIGN by a North-East mental health trust to remove “offensive” Halloween costume from sale has been backed by the police.

Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust is warning of the damage being done by Halloween costumes which stigmatise mental health issues and wants to see them taken off the market.

It follows an increase in the sale of Halloween costumes purporting to depict mental patients.

One website sells a range of costumes including an “adult skitzo” outfit complete with jumpsuit, mask and shackles.

The sales pitch claims the costume “makes you look like a criminally insane convict straight out of a horror movie”.

Now the trust is being backed by Northumbria Police.

NTW chief executive John Lawlor said: “For most people getting dressed up at Halloween is all a bit of fun, however some of the costumes we’ve seen being sold carry a much more serious, and damaging, message.

“Every year many thousands of people across our region receive treatment for mental health problems, some of them serious enough to require hospital treatment. To see derogatory terms for such hospitals and their patients used so flippantly in an effort to make money is offensive.”

“Such representations have a real impact on how mental health is viewed, particularly by the young who many of these costumes are aimed at and I would ask people to bear this in mind when spending their money."

Chief Superintendent Ian Dawes of Northumbria Police, who is backing the campaign, said: “The inappropriate and wholly unnecessary use of outfits which could stigmatise people with mental illness should be discouraged. No one is trying to suggest that you can't have a fun Halloween party, but you should be sensitive to the impact these costumes can have.”