A man has been found guilty of deliberately terrifying motorists on a dark country lane by dressing head to foot in black and donning a mask with eyes and a mouth painted on – but he insisted he was not the notorious “Somerset gimp”.
Joshua Hunt, 32, confirmed in court that he was the masked man who had frightened passing drivers in north Somerset on two nights in May but, giving evidence at Bristol magistrates court, he said: “The outfit I wear is not anything to do with the gimp.”
Hunt, a gardener, accepted he had previously made searches on his phone for stories about the Somerset gimp, a mysterious figure who has been spotted since 2018, but said he had only done this to keep up with local events.
He said he would don his black costume to go “mudding”, to cover himself in “shit”, because he had low self-esteem. He told the court he had been close to or on the road because he had been contemplating letting a car hit him.
Hunt, of Claverham, north Somerset, was found guilty of two charges under the Public Order Act 1986. The district judge Joanna Dickens said his “bizarre” outfit had left those who saw him terrified and there was an intention to cause fear, alarm and distress.
During her sentencing Dickens made no judgment over whether Hunt was the gimp but said he must have known that dressing like one would have frightened people.
The court was told that at about 11.15pm on Sunday 7 May a woman was driving alone along Accommodation Road in Bleadon, north Somerset, when she saw a “dark object” at the side of the road. In a statement, she said that as she neared the figure, she saw it was person dressed in “very tight” dark clothing with a mask over their face and white crosses where the eyes should be. They were “writhing and crawling in a military fashion”, she said.
She feared it could be an abduction attempt. “I was terrified,” she said. The woman drove away and when she got home called the police. “It was so surreal. I was shaking with fright, a borderline panic attack,” she said.
Just after midnight on 9 May, two women and a teenager were driving back from work when they saw a masked figure in black standing in the middle of the road, legs apart, arms behind their back. The driver said her passenger screamed. “I felt sheer horror,” she said. “It was a scary costume.” She sped off and called the police.
Her passenger said: “I screamed and covered my eyes with my hands, I was scared. It was dark, in the middle of nowhere.” The teenager said the scream had been like something from a horror movie and he had struggled to sleep after the incident.
Two police officers quickly arrived and found Hunt, now wearing grey joggers and a blue hoodie. He told them: “I’m not a gimp, I don’t own a gimp suit, I’m not in a gimp suit. I’m not dangerous. I’m a normal person. I’ve got a few problems. I need help, basically.”
When police searched his van, they found wet black clothing and face masks with eyes and a mouth painted on them with neon paint.
In police interview, Hunt said: “My mental health has deteriorated rapidly and I am in crisis.” He said he was on new antidepressants. “I was attempting to kill myself, I was not attempting to scare anybody. I am crying out for help and would like help with my mental health.”
When police searched his phone and home they found he had searched for stories about the “Somerset gimp” and written a journal detailing a story about a character called Jack who had bought a black rubber suit and made a mask out of tights with a face painted on. He wrote that the face was like “something out of a horror film” that would “scare the life out of anyone”.
Giving evidence, Hunt accepted he had been on the verge of the road on 7 May but denied he had been crawling. The court heard that he called Samaritans shortly before he was seen.
He said that on 9 May he had planned to stand in the road and let a car hit him but had seen sense. He said he had not realised that the neon paint he had used lit up in the dark. “I never intended to cause those people harm or distress,” he added.
The court was told he was one of six children and lived on the family farm. His family had tried to get help for him from mental health professionals.
Hunt was fined £100 and told to pay £200 each to his victims.
After the hearing, Avon and Somerset police released statements from Hunt’s victims. One said: “I have never felt fear like that before or since, and I can only describe the scene as like something you see in a horror movie.”
Another said: “When it’s closing time at work, I can feel myself beginning to dread my journey back home and that night was the worst night of my life.”
Ch Insp Jonny Murray, policing commander for north Somerset, said: “His actions were alarming and caused others to genuinely fear for their safety. Behaviour of this kind is completely unacceptable.”
Police said a court had also granted an interim sexual risk order on Hunt because of concerns there was a sexual motivation behind the offences. This prohibits him from being in possession of specific items of clothing and acting in certain ways. If he breaches this condition of the order, he could be arrested.
In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and ChildLine on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978
