Man appears in court after masked suspect black latex suit jumped out in front of terrified woman
Is the Somerset Gimp about to be unveiled? Man appears in court after masked suspect in black latex suit jumped in front of terrified woman
- Joshua Hunt, 31, is due to appear in court over the so-called Somerset Gimp
A man will appear in court today accused of wearing an all-black latex full body outfit to terrorize women as the so-called ‘Somerset Gimp’.
Police say 31-year-old Joshua Hunt has been charged in connection with a series of incidents in the area.
Hunt, from Claverham, will appear before the North Somerset Magistrates Court.
He is charged with two counts and one count each of possessing a bladed object and committing an act of decency.
One of the allegations of brawling and possession of a bladed item relates to an incident in Bleadon yesterday.
The second insult charge relates to an incident in Bleadon on Sunday, while the outrageous public decency charge relates to an incident in Cleeve on October 25.
Hunt is currently in police custody awaiting today’s hearing.
Police say investigations into other related crimes in the North Somerset area are continuing.
An alleged sighting of the ‘Gimp Man’ in July 2019. A man was detained on suspicion of causing a public disturbance following the alleged incident near Weston-super-Mare on Monday
Avon and Somerset Police said a woman reported seeing a man in a latex suit jump in front of her vehicle on Accommodation Road in Bleadon shortly after midnight Monday.
The hearing follows several reports over the years of a man in a latex suit lurking in several villages.
The latest incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday in Bleadon after he jumped in front of a woman.
She later posted on Facebook, “I just want to put this on Facebook because I would hate for someone to go through what I saw last night and not know what it was/would only be in their experience.
‘Last night about 11.15pm I was driving home alone from Weston on the back roads (accommodation road) towards Brean.
‘As soon as I crossed the first railway bridge I saw something on the ground that I thought was a badger.
Reports of a ‘Gimp Man’ being spotted date back a few years. An alleged sighting occurred in July 2019 (pictured)
“As I got closer, I saw that it wasn’t like that, but in fact a man in a mask, crawling and writhing on the ground.
“His mask had 2 white crosses on his eyes and he was all in black.
“To be honest, I’ve never been so scared and driven away so fast in my entire life.
“It was such a strange experience that I really thought I had hallucinated.
“One of my friends then mentioned something called the ‘Somerset Gimp’ which completely matched my description.
“He’s a guy who dresses all in black latex, wears that mask, and terrorizes people.
“There have been sightings in 2018 in Yatton and surrounding areas. There are no recent reports (so far lol).
“When I got home I called the police to tell them what I had seen and told them.
“The policeman agreed and said this was his first thought when I described what I had seen.
“If you see this man, don’t deal with him, walk away and call the police.
“Hopefully no one else sees this absolute freak, but I thought I’d share my experience in case someone was terrified like me.”