A man has been convicted of public order offences after scaring female motorists in Somerset while dressed in a gimp suit.Joshua Hunt, 32, was found guilty at Bristol Magistrates’ Court of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress.
The court earlier heard that Hunt was seen by one lone female driver to be writhing around on the ground while another was left shaking and crying by the alleged incident.
The incidents took place in the evening of May 7 and shortly after midnight on May 9 this year in Bleadon, near Weston-super-Mare, Somerset.
When Hunt was arrested minutes after the second incident, he told police: “I am not a gimp - I do not own a gimp suit. I am not in a gimp suit.”
The defendant had denied two offences of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress.
In a written statement, motorist Lucy Lodge said she was driving home along Accommodation Road in Bleadon when she saw something moving on the ground.
“He was writhing and crawling as if in a military fashion,” she said.
“I could see the person was wearing very tight, dark clothing and had a mask on their face. The mask was dark and very tight and two white crosses where the eyes should be.
“My first thought was it could be a possible abduction and the person was trying to get me out of my car.
“It was terrifying although I had only seen them for a few seconds.
“He was dressed all in black with a shiny, black facemask with white crosses on. They were face down in a military fashion and writhing and crawling on their belly.”
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 had never seen anything like this before. I feel scared and I never want to see this thing again due to the fright it gave me.
“I didn’t sleep more than three hours that night.”
Martin Mills, a passenger in a vehicle driving in the area at the same time as Miss Lodge, saw a man “commando crawling” on the floor.
“I can see they were all in black and shiny and the car lights were reflecting off him,” he said.
Just 24 hours later - shortly after midnight on May 9 - Samantha Brown was driving from work with her sister-in-law and another colleague when she saw a man dressed all in black with a face mask.
“When I saw them my sister-in-law screamed. I had to speed up to get past them and he jumped to the side of my car,” she said in a statement.
“When I saw the person I felt sheer horror. When I got home I was shaking and crying. I was scared by this person - anything could have happened and they had their hands behind their back and they could have been holding anything.”
Ms Brown’s sister-in-law, Chloe Smith, also saw the man and said: “I was scared by what he was doing because it was dark and they were dressed like that.”
The teenager in the car said when he saw the man he grabbed the door handle in case he tried to open the door.
“I was angry that he scared Samantha and Chloe,” he said.
Following reports of the second incident, police went to Bleadon and spotted a white Berlingo van in a field which was reversing and decided to stop it.
Pc Declan Coppock spoke to the defendant, who was wearing grey trousers and a black hooded top, and arrested him - with Hunt telling him he was not a gimp.
“I noticed his skin was extremely wet and damp - suggesting he had been lying on the side of the road,” the officer said.
Hunt told him: “I am not dangerous, I am a normal person, I have got a few problems.”
A search found Hunt was not wearing a T-shirt or any underwear and inside his van was a collection of wet black clothing, women’s tights, face masks and gloves. There was also neon white paint used for drawing on a mask, the court heard.
Hunt told police during an interview that his mental health had been in “crisis” over problems with his medication and wanted to take his own life, the court heard.
“I stood in the road because I wanted to kill myself and I never intended to scare anybody,” he told officers.
“I am crying out for help and need help with my mental health.”
The court heard that during a search of Hunt’s home in Claverham, officers found a journal in which he had written a story about someone called Jack who purchases a black rubber suit and mask with white paint on the mask.
“The face was looking like something out of a horror film - a face that would scare the life out of anyone,” Hunt wrote.
He had also done internet searches in 2022 and 2023 about the “Somerset Gimp” and the “Gimp of Cleeve”, the court heard.
Giving evidence, Hunt, a self-employed gardener, told the court he had been in a “very traumatic state of mind” in May of this year and was speaking with the Samaritans and getting counselling.
“I hated myself with the way I looked and the way I am and everything about me,” he told the court, fighting back tears.
He explained he would go out at night and change into black clothing to go “mudding”.
“Which a lot of people wouldn’t understand, which is something I do to get covered in mud which is another reason I was there as it is close to the estuary where there is mud,” he said.
“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.”
Hunt told the court on the two nights he had been seen on the side of the road he had wanted to kill himself by being hit by a car.
“It never entered my head that what I was doing was frightening people,” he said.
“I apologise to those people - I agree what I was doing was frightening but hand on my heart I never intended to cause them harassment, alarm or distress.”
Under cross-examination from Robert Yates, prosecuting, Hunt described how he would go mudding at the estuary.
“It is a public place but it is discreet - I only go mudding in discreet locations,” he said.
Mr Yates asked: “You live on a farm, there are fields - private land - the public wouldn’t be there. So why not go mudding there?”
Hunt replied: “It’s not a case of reasons why I don’t do it at the farm.”
Mr Yates asked: “I am going to suggest that the reason you went to Accommodation Road was that you wanted to be seen and shock people?”
Hunt replied: “No it wasn’t.”
Mr Yates asked: “You go mudding because you want people to see you?”
Hunt replied: “I don’t agree. All mudding I have done has been done discreetly.”
