A pair of primary school children were given cocaine instead of sweets when they went trick or treating, according to Daily Mail.

Plastic bags containing the white powder were handed to youngsters taking part in traditional Halloween fun in Royton, Greater Manchester.

The wraps were taken to police and examined and confirmed to contain cocaine.

It is not clear whether the children had tried any before it was discovered.

Donald Junior Green, 23, has been charged with possession of Class A drugs and is due before Oldham Magistrates' Court tomorrow morning.

A 21-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of possession of Class A drugs and was later released without charge.

Superintendent Catherine Hankinson, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “The parents and police acted quickly when this report was made, in the interests of public safety. We understand this to be an isolated incident.”

Elsewhere in Manchester a gang of robbers disguised in Halloween outfits carried out a gems raid - while pretending to be out trick or treating.

The thugs in curly red and black wigs and Guy Fawkes-style masks had been walking down a street with collection buckets before they brought real life terror to a jewellery store.

Armed with crowbars and a hammer the three men burst into the shop in Tyldesley Arcade, in Wigan, Greater Manchester and terrorised a heavily pregnant woman, her colleagues and customers and demanded valuables before escaping to a nearby getaway car.

Meanwhile in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, a man was left in a critical condition after accidentally hanging himself on a noose that had been set up as a Halloween prop at a nightclub.

The 25-year-old was taken to hospital from Pink Punters.

Nightclub owners and police said it had been a 'freak accident'.