A self-employed gardener dressed in an all-black gimp suit and mask left female motorists terrified and fearing they might be abducted, a court heard.
It was the latest in a series of bizarre incidents where a man dressed in skin-tight dark clothing was seen writhing around on the ground and stepping out in front of cars in remote locations across north Somerset since 2018.
When Joshua Hunt, 32, was arrested in May this year, he told police: “I am not a gimp.”
But after a trial, he was convicted of two offences under the Public Order Act of intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress.
Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard the incidents took place in the evening of May 7th and shortly after midnight on May 9th this year in Bleadon, near Weston-super-Mare.
Eyewitnesses were left terrified after seeing Hunt in front of them in the gimp suit as the white neon paint around his eyes and mouth reflected off their car headlights.
Motorist Lucy Lodge saw Hunt “writhing and crawling as if in a military fashion” on the floor shortly after 11pm on May 7th.
“My first thought was it could be a possible abduction and the person was trying to get me out of my car,” she said.
“It was terrifying although I had only seen them for a few seconds. I had never seen anything like this before.”
Shortly after midnight on May 9th, another motorist, Samantha Brown, saw Hunt jump to the side of her car as she drove home.
“When I saw them my sister-in-law screamed. I felt sheer horror,” she said.
“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.”
Within half an hour of the second incident, Hunt had been arrested by uniformed officers who had seen his white Berlingo van parked on a farm track.
He told police: “I am not a gimp – I do not own a gimp suit. I am not in a gimp suit. I am not dangerous, I am a normal person, I have got a few problems.”
Officers noticed Hunt’s skin was damp and he 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.
Police later found at Hunt’s home in Claverham, north Somerset, a story he had written about a man who went out frightening people wearing a black rubber suit and scary mask.
He had also researched news and videos online about the infamous Somerset Gimp – who had been terrorising people late at night since 2018.
The farmer’s son had previously been arrested on suspicion of causing a public nuisance in connection with a series of incidents in the Cleeve, Claverham and Yatton areas last year.
But due to insufficient evidence, no further action was taken.
Hunt told the court he had not intended to scare anyone but was suffering a mental health crisis and planned to kill himself by jumping out in front of a moving car.
He said he wore black clothing to go “mudding” – covering himself in mud – at “discrete” public locations.
“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.
“It never entered my head that what I was doing was frightening people.
“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.”
Hunt said he drew a smiley face on the mask because as he planned to kill himself, he “wanted to die with a smile on my face”.
Judge Joanna Dickens said Hunt had worn “quite a bizarre get-up” with fluorescent markings on the eyes and mouth with a “smile or grimace” and said his explanation in court “doesn’t really add up”.
“The way you looked would have been absolutely terrifying for those individuals,” she said.
“You explanation about mudding does not make a lot of sense to me. I accept you might have wanted to wallow around in mud because you were depressed.
“What I don’t understand is why at the side of the road and why you wouldn’t do that in private and not somewhere public and why did you put a mask on?
“I do not believe your evidence. You were wearing a bizarre costume and it seems to me that you were wearing this costume and the reason for that is that you intended to scare people that saw it.”
The judge said she accepted Hunt had already spent a month on remand in prison prior to his trial and that was bigger punishment than any sentence she could impose.
He was fined £100 and ordered to pay £200 compensation to each of his three victims and £620 prosecution costs.
She added: “I accept that you have already received punishment and spent time in prison and lost your good character in a very public way and no doubt effecting you for the remainder of your life.”
Hunt is currently the subject of an interim Sexual Risk Order that bans him from wearing a mask or possessing one in a public place and wearing black all-in-one clothing at night in public.
He also must not “crawl, wriggle or writhe on the ground wearing a full-body covering or mask” or visit the areas the offences took place.
The order will be reviewed by a court on November 3rd.
Chief Inspector Jonny Murray, policing commander for North Somerset, said: “The masks worn by Joshua Hunt, which were made out of tights and had faces drawn on them, terrified the people he jumped out on.
“His actions were alarming and caused others to genuinely fear for their safety.
“Behaviour of this kind is completely unacceptable and I hope the criminal charges and civil proceedings we’ve instigated reassure people we will not tolerate offending of this kind.”
