Gimp who terrorised town banned from wearing fetish gear for five years after being unmasked
The man behind the mask of the 'Somerset Gimp' has been banned from wearing fetish outfits for five years after being found guilty of harassment.
32-year-old gardener Joshua Hunt has been revealed as the man behind the gimp mask who was unsettling people in his local area.
Hunt was last month found guilty of two offences of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress under the Public Order Act.
Bristol Magistrates' Court heard that Hunt had frightened two female motorists in Bleadon, near Weston-super-Mare, on the night of 7 May.
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Now, a district judge has banned the 32-year-old from wearing his black gimp suit or 'crawling, wriggling or writhing on the ground' for five years.
He has also been banned from wearing any type of mask or face covering except for medical reasons.
Lawrence Wilcox of Avon and Somerset Police said that Hunt was connected to 25 incidents in total since 2018.
He said: "The evidence of the earlier incidents is based upon intelligence reports and the latter reports is more specific.
"But, we say, if the court is satisfied that the intelligence of the earlier incidents were of a sexual nature and committed by the defendant; there is material within that bundle that relates to that of a sexual nature and the acceptance of necessity."
Being handed a sexual risk order means that the 32-year-old is also on the sex offender's register for the duration of his five year ban on wearing fetish gear in public.
The order was imposed by district judge Joanna Dickens, who said: "I am satisfied that you have done a series of acts of a sexual nature.
"I have been informed what they are, and they certainly fall within the terms of the Act. They are clearly acts of a sexual nature with a sexual element to them.
"A sexual risk order is quite a serious order, and it has a lot of obligations of you and if you breach this order you can go to prison.
"I only make an order if I think it is necessary to protect the public from you and I do think it is necessary."
The court heard that, when he was arrested by police earlier this year, Hunt said: "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."
During his trial, Hunt said that it 'never entered my head that what I was doing was frightening people' and the judge acknowledged that he had apologised for that.
Chief Inspector Jonny Murray, North Somerset’s policing commander, said: “We have taken these offences and his wider pattern of behaviour incredibly seriously and I hope the criminal charges and civil proceedings we’ve instigated reassure people we will not tolerate this totally unacceptable behaviour.
“We hope this sexual risk order will help protect the public from harm and distress, and prevent further such incidents happening again.”
Joe Harker