Not quite an urban legend, more of a rural menace: British police arrest “man wearing latex” accused of outraging public decency in the latest of several years of incidents involving the so-called “Somerset Gimp”.
Joshua Hunt, 31, appeared in court Wednesday, accused of possession of a bladed article — carrying a knife, in other words — two counts of affray, and one of outraging public decency. He had been arrested on Tuesday after, it is claimed by police, a man “wearing latex had jumped out in front of [a woman’s] vehicle on Accommodation Road”.
Indeed, the Crown alleged in court that Hunt had approached lone women drivers twice in the past week around the village of Bleadon, Somerset, the Daily Mail reports. The prosecutor claimed the women felt fearful, distressed, and “struck with horror” by the appearance of the latex-wearing man.
Hunt was remanded in custody and the case is being referred to a higher court, given the seriousness of the allegations.
Avon and Somerset Police, the force covering the rural area, said in their statement that Hunt had previously been arrested on suspicion of other public nuisance events in the area last year. The Mail reported in that case, two men witnessed a man who “grabbed his penis over a gimp suit whilst ‘gyrating against the floor’.”
As reported by the Daily Telegraph, the name “Somerset Gimp” came about after years of sightings of a rubber-clad man appearing to locals in Somerset villages.