Man arrested after fresh sighting of ‘Somerset Gimp’
A Rubber-wearing gimp terrorising villages struck again over the bank holiday weekend, leaving a woman travelling alone in her car petrified.
Seven months after his last sighting, the so-called “Somerset Gimp” resurfaced on Sunday evening when he leapt out in front of a passing motorist and began “crawling and writhing” on the ground in the West Country.
Lucy Anne had been driving along a back road between Weston-super-mare and Brean, when she encountered the man dressed in black latex.
Miss Anne said she had initially believed the figure sprawled in front of her, who wore a mask with two white crosses on his eyes, was a badger. After driving away safely to her home, she phoned Avon and Somerset Police.
Within three minutes, officers had found the man near the road and arrested him on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.
A spokesman for the force confirmed the suspect, in his 30s, is also under investigation for a spate of similar offences last October. Insp Graeme Hall said extra officers would be out on patrol following the incident.
“We took this morning’s report extremely seriously and had officers on the scene within minutes which ultimately led to the arrest being made.”
Miss Anne posted the details of her encounter on Facebook. “As soon as I got over the first railway bridge, I noticed something on the ground which I thought was a badger.
“As I got closer I could see it wasn’t, but in fact a man with a mask on, who was crawling and writhing on the ground,” she wrote. “I have honestly never been so frightened in my entire life and drove away so fast.”
The Somerset Gimp came to public attention in 2018 after villagers in Claverham, Cleeve and Yatton reported being harassed by a man dressed in a masked bodysuit. Over the past five years, the gimp has terrorised lone individuals on at least 16 occasions by running up to them and grunting.
In September 2021, police received reports of a masked man staring through a window at a couple in their home. There followed a further sighting in June 2022 when a couple said they sprinted home after a man sprung out of an alleyway.
Four months later, police arrested the gimp after footage emerged of a man crawling towards two young chefs who offered him a cigarette. The 70-second clip, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, shows the man approaching two teenagers in a mud-splattered gimp suit before rolling around on the floor.