Bring out the gimp: Police bust fetishist after bizarre encounter

A rubber-clad gimp struck villages in England’s west country again over the Bank Holiday weekend, terrifying a woman traveling alone in her car.

Seven months after his last sighting, the so-called “Somerset Gimp” reappeared on Sunday evening when he jumped in front of a passing motorist and began “crawling and writhing” on the ground.

Lucy Anne was driving along a backroad between Weston-on-Mere and Brenne when she encountered a man clad head-to-toe in black latex.

Anne said she initially believed the figure, which wore a mask with two white crosses over its eyes, was a badger.

After speeding away and leaving the man on the road between Weston-on-Mare and Braine, he called Avon and Somerset Police.

Within three minutes, officers found the man near the road and arrested him on suspicion of causing a public nuisance.

A spokesman for the force confirmed that the 30-year-old suspect is also being investigated for the same crimes last October.

Inspector Graeme Hall said extra officers would be on patrol following the incident.

“We took this morning’s reports extremely seriously and within minutes officers were on the scene, which ultimately led to an arrest.”

Anne posted details of her encounter on Facebook in the morning.

She wrote: “As I reached the first railway bridge, I saw something on the ground which I thought was a badger.

“As I got closer, I could see that it was not him, but actually a man with a mask, crawling on the ground and sobbing.

“His mask had 2 [sic] He had white crosses over his eyes and was in all black. To be honest, I have never been so scared and driven so fast in my entire life.

“It was such a strange experience that I honestly thought I hallucinated.”

The suspect earned the nickname “Somerset Gimp” in 2018, when villagers in Claverham, Cleeve and Yeaton reported being harassed by a man wearing a masked bodysuit.

Over the past five years, the secretive criminal has terrorized lonely people on at least 16 occasions by walking up to them and growling.

In September 2021, police received a report of a masked man stalking a couple in their home through a window.

In October the following year, police arrested a man in his 30s after a latex-clad man was seen crawling towards two young cooks, who offered him a cigarette and urged him to go home safely.