Search for the Somerset villages of Claverham, Yatton, Cleeve and Bleadon on the local police website and one topic dominates. Not appeals relating to burglaries, car crime or missing people – but sightings of a figure who slips out from the shadows at night, dressed top to toe in black bondage-like gear.
Since the so-called Somerset gimp first emerged five years ago, he has caused a mishmash of distress, fear and concern in this picturesque, usually peaceful, rural area 10 miles south of Bristol, set just back from the coast.
