Southport Sockmen
Between approximately 1996 and 1998, Steven Bain and Steven Gawthrop, two men in Southport, Merseyside, England ran a scam to trick people into surrendering socks. They became known as the Southport Sockmen.[1]
Bain and Gawthrop would approach people in bars and clubs in Southport and buy the socks off their feet, claiming to be collecting them for charity.[2] They would also take photos of the socks' owners, including two policemen and a traffic warden, and carefully keep track of their names and pictures.[3] It later emerged that the men were foot fetishists and were hoarding the socks for their own sexual gratification.[4][5] They also paid their victims to carry out masochistic acts.[6]
When the men's flat was raided, the police found socks in 18-inch-deep (460 mm) piles everywhere around the residence, such that one officer commented it was "like an explosion in a sock factory".[1] The socks were thought to number 10,000,[7] and later estimated at 30,000.[8] In June 1998, Bain and Gawthrop were both sentenced to 18 months incarceration, and were registered as sex offenders.[4][9][6]
Whilst in prison, the pair got a job working in the prison laundry cleaning prisoners' socks.[4][8]
In popular culture
In 2016, a 14 minute short film titled Holes in their Souls, detailing the scam, was released.[10] The film's writer and director, Andy Smith, was one of the Sockmen's victims.[11] The film was independently funded, with a £10,000 budget raised in 28 days.[8]
References
- ^ a b "Curious case of pair's obsession with socks". Southport Visiter. 16 January 2009. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Adrian, Kim (2017). Sock. Object lessons. New York London Oxford New Delhi Sydney: Bloomsbury Academic. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-5013-1508-4.
- ^ Cassingham, Randy (Winter 1999). "SOCK IT TO ME". Skeptic. 7 (1): 6 – via GALE.
- ^ a b c Siddle, John (13 May 2015). "Southport perverts who swindled thousands of socks from drinkers to support bizarre foot fetish inspire new film". Liverpool Echo. Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
- ^ "Fetishists Hoodwink Donors". Medicine Hat News. 4 June 1996. p. 34. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ a b Jenkins, Russell (3 June 1998). "Fetishists collected 10,000 pairs of other men's socks; Trial". The Times. London. p. 3 – via Gale.
- ^ Lake, Howard (2 June 1998). "Fraudulent fundraising leaves a bad smell". UK Fundraising. Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
- ^ a b c Siddle, John (14 May 2015). "Foot fetish perverts who swindled 15,000 people out of their socks 'for charity' heading for silver screen". Daily Mirror. Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ "Foot fetishists who conned drinkers out of 15,000 pairs of socks remembered". Daily Record. 29 June 2021. Archived from the original on 18 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
- ^ Holes in their Souls (2016) - IMDb. Retrieved 25 June 2024 – via www.imdb.com.
- ^ Davies, Helen (1 November 2015). "Film about bizarre Southport Sockmen tale nears completion - Liverpool Echo". www.liverpoolecho.co.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2024.