A young couple ran home terrified in a North Somerset village at the weekend, after a man dressed in a full latex 'gimp' suit appeared out of the darkness.
Now people living in the Yatton area, near Bristol, are now coming to terms with the possibility that the man who terrorised them during 2018 and into 2019 has returned.
There were 14 separate incidents three or four years ago of a man in a gimp suit frightening people in the dark in the villages of Yatton and Claverham - the last one reported was in July 2019 just before police arrested a man in connection with the cases.
From 2019: Police review all calls to village as part of inquiry into man in gimp suit
No one was ever charged, but the incidents stopped - until, it seems, last Saturday night.
Lewis Webb, 21, and Kiera Elston, 19, were on their way home from Bristol and had got a taxi to the co-op in Yatton, and arrived there at around 1am. "We were alking back towards Keira's house when we approached the alley which enters into her estate," Lewis told Somerset Live.
"As we were talking I looked at the roundabout as I thought I had seen something, then in the pitch-black was this bloke in a full latex gimp suit walking towards us from out of nowhere. He clearly knew we were there, so I just told Kiera to run and we sprinted down the alleyway and back to her house and made sure the guy wasn’t chasing us.
"We then contacted the police to make them aware of someone walking around doing that. I think we were lucky as I was there with her but wouldn’t wanna know what would happen if it was a younger girl on her own at night and see that, we were blessed that we were so close to her house," he added.
Avon and Somerset police have confirmed they are investigating the incident and said they are 'keeping an open mind' about whether the latest case is connected to the previous incidents which left residents of villages between Claverham and Yatton scared to go out at night.
An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said: “Police were called just after 1am on Sunday (June 26) by a woman reporting seeing a man dressed in a black latex body suit and wearing a mask on Yatton High Street near the Claverham Road roundabout.
“She described him as more than six feet tall and slim and said the incident had caused her alarm and distress. Officers carried out a search of the area but found no trace of the man. Neighbourhood officers are following up on the incident and carrying out extra patrols.
"We’re keeping an open mind as to whether the report is linked to previous incidents in which a similarly-dressed man caused alarm to people in the Claverham and Yatton areas. If you have any information, dashcam or CCTV footage which could help to identify the man, please call 101 and give the reference 57 of 26 June," he said.
There were 14 incidents - or at least those which were reported to the police - which began in November 2018 and ended in July 2019 in North Somerset, each followed a similar story: people walking at night were suddenly confronted with a silent man in a full black latex or rubber gimp suit, either standing near them or walking towards them.
Some of those who saw him managed to photograph the figure before running off, but almost all said they were terrified and thought they were about to be attacked. One man, who said he saw the gimp man before the story was reported locally, said he punched and kicked him when he saw him.
Avon and Somerset police launched a big investigation to find out who it was. The last report had been on July 11 and four days later, police announced they had made an arrest - a man in his 20s - who had been detained on suspicion of indecency offences. Three days later, a second man in his 30s was arrested too, but both were released and later in 2019 police said no charges had been brought - but the appearances of the gimp man stopped then.
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