Somerset man guilty of threatening behaviour with intent to cause fear over "gimp man" incidents
Joshua Hunt from Claverham admitted appearing in front of drivers late at night wearing all black and a mask
Last updated 27th Oct 2023
A man from North Somerset has been found guilty of using threatening behaviour with intent to cause harassment, alarm or distress, after admitting appearing down a country lane in Bleadon late at night, dressed in all black with a mask on.
Joshua Hunt (32) from Claverham was arrested in the early hours of 9 May 2023 after an incident which left motorists terrified.
In a written statement read out by the prosecution at Bristol Magistrates Court today (27 October) a female driver described driving along Accommodation Road in Bleadon, when Hunt suddenly appeared in her headlights standing in the road in front of her.
“They were wearing all back shiny clothing which covered their whole body including head," the witness had written.
“When I first saw them my sister-in-law screamed, I had to speed up to get past them, which is when they jumped to the side of the road."
Only the night before another motorist had reported a similar incident in the same place, where they spotted a man, which Hunt now admits was him, "Writhing and crawling" around on the grass verge beside the road.
That night at around 11:15pm lone female driver Lucy Lodge reported Hunt looked up at her as she passed.
"My first thought was that it was a possible abduction attempt," she wrote in her statement.
"I was terrified."
She added: "The whole incident felt so surreal, and I was questioning myself about what I was seeing and making this statement makes me feel anxious.
"I genuinely believed it was an abduction because you read about this in the newspapers.
"When I got home I was breathing heavily and I was having a borderline panic attack.
"I didn't sleep more than three hours that night."
The court heard subsequent police investigations found Mr Hunt had been searching the internet for news reports about similar incidents, which had been reported in the area on several separate occasions since 2016.
A so called "Somerset gimp man" had been making headlines for appearing in the area late at night and terrorising residents, grunting and sometimes running at them while wearing a full latex body suit.
When Hunt was arrested minutes after the second incident on 9 May, he told police: "I am not a gimp - I do not own a gimp suit. I am not in a gimp suit."
"I noticed his skin was extremely wet and damp - suggesting he had been lying on the side of the road," arresting officer PC Declan Coppock said.
Hunt told him: "I am not dangerous, I am a normal person, I have got a few problems."
Hunt told the court today that he had not intended to scare anyone but was suffering a mental health crisis.
He said he wore black clothing to go "mudding" - covering himself in mud - at "discrete" public locations.
"The clothes I wear and face masks are for mudding only, hence why I had them in the vehicle," he said.
"Time from time, it is a self-loathing thing because I feel so crap about myself.
"It's a release because I feel like shit - I cover myself in shit.
"It never entered my head that what I was doing was frightening people.
"I apologise to those people..."
Judge Joanna Dickens said Hunt had worn "quite a bizarre get-up" with fluorescent markings on the eyes and mouth with a "smile or grimace" and said his explanation in court "doesn't really add up".
"The way you looked would have been absolutely terrifying for those individuals," she said.
"You explanation about mudding does not make a lot of sense to me. I accept you might have wanted to wallow around in mud because you were depressed.
"What I don't understand is why at the side of the road...and why did you put a mask on?
"I do not believe your evidence.
"You were wearing a bizarre costume and it seems to me that you were wearing this costume and the reason for that is that you intended to scare people that saw it."
The judge said she accepted Hunt had already spent a month on remand in prison prior to his trial and that was bigger punishment than any sentence she could impose.
He was fined Ă‚ÂŁ100 and ordered to pay Ă‚ÂŁ200 compensation to each of his three victims and Ă‚ÂŁ620 prosecution costs.
She added: "I accept that you have already received punishment and spent time in prison and lost your good character in a very public way and no doubt effecting you for the remainder of your life."
Hunt is currently the subject of an interim Sexual Risk Order that bans him from wearing a mask or possessing one in a public place and wearing black all-in-one clothing at night in public.
He also must not "crawl, wriggle or writhe on the ground wearing a full-body covering or mask" or visit the areas the offences took place.
The order will be reviewed by a court on November 3.
Chief Inspector Jonny Murray, policing commander for North Somerset, said: "The masks worn by Joshua Hunt, which were made out of tights and had faces drawn on them, terrified the people he jumped out on.
"His actions were alarming and caused others to genuinely fear for their safety.
"Behaviour of this kind is completely unacceptable and I hope the criminal charges and civil proceedings we've instigated reassure people we will not tolerate offending of this kind."