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<\/p>\nThe man who has been convicted of being the ‘Somerset Gimp’ once wrote a story about a man named Jack – who dressed up in black with a face mask and ‘looked like something out of a horror film’, before he himself was caught.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Joshua Hunt, 32, who wore a latex black ‘gimp suit’ and terrified female motorists, was found guilty of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress\u00a0after he terrorised people in a pitch-black rural country lane.<\/p>\n
Troubled Hunt had tried to claim he was only wearing the suit as he was ‘going mudding’ as he liked to cover his body in ‘s***.’\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bristol Magistrates Court heard on two separate occasions he was seen wearing the black outfit and a terrifying mask made out of tights he’d purchased from Asda on the same day.<\/p>\n
He also eyes and a mouth he had drawn on with UV paint, the court was told.<\/p>\n
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In May last year, the ‘Somerset Gimp’ terrorised\u00a0female motorists in the West Country<\/p>\n
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A court heard that Joshua Hunt\u00a0once wrote a story about a man named Jack – who dressed up in black with a face mask and ‘looked like something out of a horror film’<\/p>\n
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Hunt’s masks included makeshift eyes and a mouth which he had drawn on with UV paint<\/p>\n
The incidents in Accommodation Road, Bleadon, near Weston-super-Mare, Somerset late on 7 May and in the early hours of 9 May last year left on-lookers terrified, the trial was told.<\/p>\n
He accepted he was the ‘gimp’ who was spotted but denied any intent to cause alarm or distress.<\/p>\n
But after a one day trial, he was found guilty and sentenced by a district judge who said she did not believe his excuses on how he was caught wearing the outfit.<\/p>\n
During the first incident, a woman was driving along the lane with her husband and two children in the car when she spotted a black figure – which looked like a person – crawling on the ground.<\/p>\n
In disbelief, the pair discussed what they had seen and convinced each other than it was likely to be a bin bag. They chose not to call the police, but instead report it online.<\/p>\n
The woman was left ‘unnerved’ and ‘does not want to travel around the lanes anymore’, Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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The incidents in Accommodation Road, Bleadon (pictured) late on 7 May and in the early hours of 9 May last year left on-lookers terrified<\/p>\n
Just over 24 hours later, a woman was driving along the road with her sister-in-law and teenage boy in the car.<\/p>\n
As she drove around a corner, she came face-to-face with a person dressed in all black with a face covering.<\/p>\n
As her sister-in-law looked up from her phone, she screamed in horror. The driver sped up to pass, and the figure jumped to the side of the road.<\/p>\n
The teenage boy described the woman’s reaction as ‘like a scream from a horror movie’.<\/p>\n
‘I always take this route to work, but I won’t be taking this route in the dark anymore as it does not feel safe’, she said in a witness statement.<\/p>\n
Within five minutes, the police were contacted and sent a unit to the scene.<\/p>\n
PC Declan Coppock, and his colleague PC Pickles, were the first officers to arrive – and spotted a white Citroen Berlingo van reversing out of lay-by.<\/p>\n
Suspicious, he stopped behind the vehicle and got out to speak to the driver, who identified himself as Joshua Hunt.<\/p>\n
At the time, he was wearing grey jogging bottoms and a blue hoodie. Suspecting his involvement in the incident, he was arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.<\/p>\n
In response, he said: ‘I’m not a gimp, I don’t own a gimp suit’.<\/p>\n
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Hunt’s tight black outfit was recovered from his person by police after his arrest<\/p>\n
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A mask used by Joshua Hunt which was recovered by police following his arrest\u00a0<\/p>\n
When the officers searched his person, he told them: ‘You can take the cuffs off, I’m a normal person. I have a few problems, I need some help basically.’<\/p>\n
In police interview, he provided a prepared statement – stating that his ‘mental health has deteriorated rapidly, and I am in crisis.’<\/p>\n
He added: ‘I was attempting to kill myself, I didn’t intend to scary anybody. I am crying out for help.’<\/p>\n
The court heard that on a search of his home in Claverham, police found a handwritten story about a man named Jack – who dressed up in black with a face mask and ‘looked like something out of a horror film’.<\/p>\n
Hunt admitted he wrote the story, but claims he was not acting it out.<\/p>\n
Examination of his mobile phone also uncovered various searches and bookmarks relating to the Somerset Gimp – searches made in the previous year.<\/p>\n
A screenshot of a video about ‘The Gimp Man’ on YouTube was also found.<\/p>\n
Giving evidence today, Hunt accepted it was him and apologised to the victims. Though he denied he’d dressed as a gimp or intentionally caused them harassment, alarm or distress.<\/p>\n
He claimed that he was wearing the outfit to go mudding, which he described as the act of covering himself in mud because he hated his body.<\/p>\n
‘It’s a simple thing: I feel like s***, I cover myself in s**’, he said.<\/p>\n
‘I was going to [go mudding]; I had wandered down to the estuary, I paced up and down, but as time went on, my mental state rapidly went downhill.<\/p>\n
‘I walked down there, I was going to, then I walked back and decided to place myself in the road in front of people because I wanted to get hit over by a car to end it all really, because I was so low.<\/p>\n
‘I apologise greatly to these people – I agree, what they saw would have frightened them.<\/p>\n
‘Hand to my heart, I never intended to cause those people harm or distress.<\/p>\n
‘I decided to put a smile on my face, two dots on my eyes and a smile. I wanted to die with a smile.’<\/p>\n
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Hunt was found guilty of two offences of Section 4A Public Order Act offences<\/p>\n
District Judge Joanna Dickens said that the issue in this case was whether or not Hunt caused intentional harassment, alarm and distress.<\/p>\n
‘In fairness to you, you have always accepted they were caused harassment, alarm or distress, and you’ve apologised for that’, she said.<\/p>\n
She added: ‘Everyone accepts and it has been proved, you were unwell and were suffering from a serious depressive episode.<\/p>\n
‘You were seen on a very quiet lane in the Bleadon area, and that you were – on both occasions – highly visible to both [victims], wearing quite a bizarre get-up.’<\/p>\n
Judge Dickens added that ‘it makes no sense at all’.<\/p>\n
She continued: ‘I do not believe your evidence as to why you were wearing the bizarre costume.<\/p>\n
‘I think there was an intention to cause fear, alarm anxious and distress to others, and that’s what happened on those occasions.’<\/p>\n
Judge Dickens found Hunt guilty of two offences of Section 4A Public Order Act offences.<\/p>\n
Accepting that he had spent one month in prison on remand for his crimes earlier this year, she imposed a \u00a3100 fine and told Hunt to pay \u00a3200 compensation to each of his three victims.<\/p>\n