‘Somerset gimp’ spotted crawling on floor in Cleeve

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Two chefs turned the tables on the infamous “Somerset gimp” last week after encountering the West Country stalker writhing around on the floor of an area of woodland. The pair, Alex Warren, 19, and Charlie Bond, 20, recorded a gimp-suited man who approached them in Cleeve, North Somerset, during the early morning at around 12.25am on Tuesday, October 25. They recorded a video showing the man’s disturbing ritual, which saw him squirm on the ground and speak in tongues, but the onlookers appeared unfazed.

The trained chefs videoed the gimp as they returned from celebrating Mr Bond’s birthday in the early hours, showing a tall man clad in black from head to toe, wearing gloves, a mask and seemingly covered in animal poo.

As the man approached them, he dropped to the grassy floor and started writhing around while muttering unintelligible words.

His speech was “high pitched” and “quite different from writhing around on the floor speaking some demon language”.

Mr Warren said the bizarre display was a “clear attempt” at intimidation that had “backfired spectacularly” because he ultimately realised they were not scared of him.

The Somerset gimp has operated in the West Country for the last three years, with 16 separate incidents recorded since 2019.

The man has most commonly appeared in Claverham and Yatton but has also popped up in nearby Cleeve, where the two chefs live locally.

They said the man is a “local legend” in the area who is “known all about”.

Mr Warren said: “The guy’s a legend around here and has been doing it for years.”

“We were literally out on the green (in Cleeve) for about 10 minutes before we saw this drunk guy stumbling down, and he started interacting with us.

“It was quite obvious who he was, the guy’s a local legend and is known all about.

“He had latex gloves and was covered in an earthy liquid like he’d been rolling around in fields or dunking in septic tanks.

“He was quite pungent with this earthy sort of smell. When I stood there it was quite terrifying to start with.”

“He’s just a man but it takes a moment to process it when you are trying to discern whether to fight, flight or freeze.”

He added that, while he was “definitely trying to indicate us”, once the “adrenaline kicked in” the man quickly realised they were not afraid.

Instead, they took the opportunity to poke fun and offered him a cigarette.

He said: “After a minute or two he realised that we are two lads, a few beers down.”

“My mate is 6 foot 9 and is a force to be reckoned with. Once he’d realised that the initial shock had turned into humour he got up and took the cigarette.”

The pair also told him to get home safely, to which the gimp “quite clearly” said: “Oh I will try.”

They rang the police after the man’s departure, with officers arriving within a few minutes.

Avon and Somerset Constabulary said they arrested a man in his 30s on suspicion of causing a public nuisance now released on bail.

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