A man exposed as the 'Somerset Gimp' has been found guilty of two public order offences - after he terrorised people in a pitch-black rural country lane.<br /><br />Joshua Hunt, 32, who wore a latex black ‘gimp suit’ and terrified female motorists, was found guilty of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />He also eyes and a mouth he had drawn on with UV paint, the court was told.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />He accepted he was the 'gimp' who was spotted but denied any intent to cause alarm or distress.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The woman was left “unnerved” and “does not want to travel around the lanes anymore”, Bristol Magistrates’ Court heard today (October 27).<br /><br />Just over 24 hours later, a woman was driving along the road with her sister-in-law and teenage boy in the car.<br /><br />As she drove around a corner, she came face-to-face with a person dressed in all black with a face covering.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />The teenage boy described the woman’s reaction as “like a scream from a horror movie”.<br /><br />“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.<br /><br />Within five minutes, the police were contacted and sent a unit to the scene.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />Suspicious, he stopped behind the vehicle and got out to speak to the driver, who identified himself as Joshua Hunt.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />In response, he said: “I’m not a gimp, I don’t own a gimp suit”.<br /><br />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.”<br /><br />In police interview, he provided a prepared statement – stating that his “mental health has deteriorated rapidly, and I am in
