A HOUSEHOLDER who filled bags with dog excrement and handed them out to children as they went trick-or-treating has been branded as “vile’’ and “sick in the head’’.

The youngsters, who were out on the streets for some Halloween fun in Sudbury, discovered the grisly offerings in their sweety bags as they shared them out when they returned home.

Outraged mum Tara Beevis, of Hawkins Road, Sudbury, joined her 10-year-old daughter Hannah and three of her friends as they knocked on doors dressed as devils and ghouls on Halloween night.

Mrs Beevis, 34, said: “Everyone was really friendly. They all came to the door and handed out packets of sweets and we had a fun evening. But when we got back and the children started going through their bags to share them out we suddenly picked out a bag which not only smelt but turned out to have a dog poo in it.”

After quickly grabbing the sweets and bags from the children Mrs Beevis recovered another three bags, that looked like little sweety bags, but were in fact filled with dog excrement.

“I’m absolutely disgusted,” she said. “You’d have to be sick in the head. It ruined a really nice Halloween night. It’s not just the smell and the fact we had to get rid of the sweets, children can pick up nasty diseases if they touch dog poo. There is clearly a nasty person out there prepared to do this to children.”

The trick-or-treaters were handed the bags as they walked along numerous roads on the Springlands Estate, including Acton Lane, Hawkins and Raleigh Road, between 5.30pm and 7.30pm.

Mrs Beevis said she had not told the police about their ordeal and was waiting to find out if anyone else had been targeted.

Hannah’s grandmother Barbara Beevis said: “It’s utterly disgusting that someone would be so vile to little children when they are out having some fun. When something like this happens you have to question whether we can allow the kids out again next year which is such a shame.”

A spokeswoman for Suffolk Police said they had not received reports of children being handed bags filled with excrement .

She added that the number of criminal incidents on the night was actually down on the previous year.