I’d run a mile if I saw him.” But another local woman, Rebecca, insisted he was harmless and needed help rather than punishment. Her colleague, Natalie, said: “It’s creepy.” One of her friends has seen the gimp, she said: “She was pretty freaked out. There’s a lot of families with children in these villages. Kelly, who works in a shop close to one of the gimp’s haunts, said: “He does frighten some people. But there is also sympathy that this individual may have problems.” There is some disquiet among people who worry they may come across him late at night. Chris Jackson, the chair of Yatton parish council, said: “There’s a mix of feelings.
