Cottage Con Cop
1990
The following article from 'In The Pink',
published in March 1990, highlights the risks taken by gay men who
cottaged. This article discusses a man pretending to be a policeman and
preying on vulnerable men for financial and sexual gain.
COTTAGE CON COP
Cottagers
in Birmingham report a man claiming to be a police officer extorting
money, and some times sex, from them. The man is described as being in
his 30's, approximately 5' 10", moustache, brown hair with a "basin
cut", brown eyes. He is also described as looking a little "rough" and
well built, if slightly chubby. His manner has been variously described
as being "confident, cocky, and more than a little threatening".
The
man propositions people in cottages as they take a walk to "somewhere
quieter" he claims to be a police officer, working with a second
officer who is supposedly following at a discreet distance. Instead of
arresting the cottager the "policeman" offers to relieve them of some
money (£10 if unemployed, £30 if working). Occasionally the "policeman"
will have sex with his victim. Although we have no reports that he has
used violence, or even directly threatened violence, his manner is such
that few people have escaped without giving him money. On occasion he
has hinted that if you don't deal with him then his fellow officer may
want to have sex with you, the inference being that the sex will be
unpleasant and unsafe.
At no time has this man produced a police
warrant card or any other IJD. The second officer that he claims to be
working with has yet to be seen. His description fits that of a man
running the same extortion racket reported in last October's In The
Pink.
If you have been approached by this man please drop us a line
or phone switchboard where your calls will be treated with the
strictest confidence.
Contributed by: In The Pink, 21