'Berserk' dad spends £2,000 building haunted house to raise funds for Leicester-based charity Wishes 4 Kids

A dad splashed £2,000 on building an entire haunted house in his garden to terrify local kids - leaving his exasperated wife branding him 'berserk' and wanting him to knock it down.

Josh Birkin admits he went a bit extreme by spending the past six weeks constructing a 16-square-metre spooky maze filled with eerie electronics and decorations for his kids and neighbours. The 32-year-old's elaborate project almost fills his front garden and creepy footage of inside shows off the sinister lighting and life-like model ghouls. He says he's splashed £600 on wood and cladding, £800 on electronics such as a zombie, and around £600 on other haunting decorations.

Josh, who builds shop window displays, admits his wife Emily Birkin, 29, thinks he's berserk and wants her garden back but he insists he's converted her into a helper. The DIY experience will be free for local kids to enjoy but Josh says there will be a donation bucket for Leicester-based charity Wishes 4 Kids. Facebook users have jokingly asked if Josh can adopt them and admired his commitment to making this Halloween a memorable one for kids and their neighbours.

Despite spending 50 hours building it in his back garden, he disassembled it and finished rebuilding it in his front garden ahead of Halloween. Josh, from Leicester, Leicestershire, said: I've gone a bit extreme but if we're going to do it we're going to do it big. My wife thinks I'm living my childhood through my kids and I probably am. She thinks I'm a bit berserk and she just wants her garden back but it'll stay like this until the week before Halloween now.

She's realised it's for the kids and it makes them happy. She's now grown to the idea of helping decorating it so I've converted her. I wanted it to be 6msq but she said it would be too big and I realised it would cost too much so we've made it smaller. I think it's going to be quite a big hit around here. Josh says his dad used to decorate his house for Halloween so now he's got kids, Logan, 12, Jaxon, four, and Matilda, two, he wants to follow in his footsteps.

His Facebook posts, including the video walkthrough, have earned more than 250 likes and comments. One commented: Now that is dedication!! Looks amazing and I hope it's a scary hit with the kids and adults alike. A second joked: Can you adopt me? A third added: Next level effort. Awesome!