An old man in Portswood is targeting girls by getting them to pick up his walking stick.
Girls are repeatedly being targeted by a white, male pensioner, reported to be in his sixties or seventies in the Portswood area.
The man, who carries a walking stick, was spotted again yesterday on Shaftesbury Avenue.
The incident occurred on Shaftesbury Avenue, approaching Highfield Lane.
At around 5:30pm yesterday evening, I was walking down Shaftesbury Avenue, near Ceno when an old man with a walking stick approached me. He moved off of the pavement onto the road between two parked cars as if to let me pass by. There was plenty enough room on the pavement so I thought this slightly odd, but thinking he was being polite as he was carrying a bag I said “Thank you” and went to walk past.
The man then threw his walking stick to the floor, which subsequently hit me in the shin. It was evident that he had not accidentally dropped the walking stick, as it was thrown onto the pavement with some force towards me.
Aware that he had done this purposefully, I became concerned as to what his motives were and realised he wanted me to pick up the stick.
I felt that his behaviour was suspicious and so walked past, shin throbbing somewhat, at which point he began hollering and shouting at me – I replied “You did that on purpose – get it yourself” without looking back and crossed the road by the junction onto Highfield Lane.
The man in question has previously targeted girls on several occasions.
I spoke to Nel Isaac, an Anthropology graduate, who was targeted on Highfield Lane just before the traffic lights onto the main street:
He did this to me at the beginning of second year when I was walking home alone in the dark. Because it was dark I thought he was just an old man having trouble.
He basically made sure I walked past him and dropped his bag then hit me with his walking stick and pretended that I’d attacked him. Really strange.
I called the police straight away because I was upset. He really should not be walking the streets. It’s so suspicious but I made a statement and the police said he’s not a threat because he’s so old.
Lucy Mazalon, a Geography graduate has also noticed the pensioner:
It happened by the Lloyds cashpoint on the corner opposite The Mitre and it was probably around 6pm but it was dark at the time.
I saw him standing with his stick, he had put down his shopping bags right in the middle of the pavement, and held his stick out as if to trip me up before dropping it once I had passed.
Sophie Hopkins, Criminology graduate from Southampton University spotted the senior citizen last year, near to Trago Lounge and told us:
I was always on the look out for this guy as I heard what he did to girls walking on their own.
I spotted him coming towards me and he threw his bags down and encouraged me to walk in between him and the bags.
I went straight around the chairs.
Having raised awareness of the issue and upon writing this article, fellow Soton Tab Editor Joel Foreman highlighted that the same thing happened to his friend:
Literally what Georgia just said happened to my friend like six months ago. I haven’t seen him since though. I think she side-stepped him or something – I don’t think she reported it.
We urge anyone with further information to contact the police on 101.
Have you had a run in with this man? Email us at
He very unconvincingly “dropped” his Sainsbury bag in front of me in my second year. Thankfully I’d already heard of this man because he’d pulled the walking stick move on a friend of mine, I managed to dodge him.
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This man has learning difficulties and lives in a home in portswood.
Don’t be too quick to judge. Just learn to keep out of his way.
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If he has learning difficulties, all the more reason to identify him so that someone can explain to him why what he’s doing isn’t appropriate. He probably doesn’t understand how it makes the individuals he has targeted feel either. Equally, people dodging him isn’t going to help him live and function in the community.
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If people know who he is, then why isn’t appropriate action being taken? Petty harassment and assault isn’t the crime of the century, but they are crimes, and sooner or later he’ll play this trick on someone who is going to respond by wrapping his walking stick around his head.
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How do you know he has learning difficulties? Do you know him? It looks like the man is just a plain crazy nutter that need professional help.
Why are the authorities not taking this man in, and placing him in a home fit for his needs. Better for the man and better for us…
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He’s targeted me in sainsburys, hitting me round the ankles and making out that it was my fault. On numerous occasions he has followed me around sainsburys, lurking round corners and down isles. It was really creepy and actually quite scary. Just because he might have learning difficulties doesn’t make it ok to terrorise young women.
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This guy did this to me in the exact same spot being mentioned in the article in the exact same way. I knew he’d done it deliberately but felt really sorry nonetheless. My friends told me he does it deliberately and I guess it’s true… I wonder if it’s because he is lonely and/oror unwell?
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This happened to me too, twice!
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I’m pretty sure this happened to me in my 2nd year too (last year) – he kind of dropped his walking stick on my feet as I walked past and just stared at it until I picked it up for him. I then just carried on walking before he started talking to me.
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This has happened to me by the exact same person! I saw him the next day too, and when he saw me he pointed to me and then dropped all the bags he was carrying. This was the point I knew it was something werid and not a mistake and just ran away…. All my friends thought I was being over dramatic so I’m so glad it’s not just happened to me.
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He’s done this to me too!
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I’ve seen him to do it to a few people before, he lurks around the cross roads at sainsburys (you know the one) and waits until people are at the same side of the crossing as him, and hits them in the leg, and pretends nothings happened. Very odd.
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he’s done this to me and my friends so many times this year!! he’s horrific and so so rude. he even nearly caused an accident by throwing his stick at a woman cycling along portswood high street.
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He did this to me last year, put his bag down on the edge of the pavement so I had to walk between it and him then dropped his stick,
I didn’t pick it up and he shouted something at me as I walked off (not sure what it was). I thought it was creepy when it happened but wasn’t aware this is so common.
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I have had a similar thing happen twice now. 2 years ago he threw himself in front of bike pretending he’d falling over. He was in the process of crossing the road and actively turned around and jumped in front of me. Pretty shaken I asked him if he was okay as he seem scared. Thankfully a lady came over and told me he does this to all the girls, that he’s fine and that I should leave.
About a month ago he dropped his shopping infront of me just outside of sainsburys. I recognised the same man and carried on walking as he shouted abuse. He was still stood there 20 minutes later..
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He threw his stick at me and i told him to get it himself. Next time i saw him he pushed his back against the wall and put his hands up… So weird
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He genuinely just wants people to give him attention. When I was in second year he dropped his stick in front of me, and not knowing all the previous stories about him, I walked him home and sat with him for a while. He spent a good hour just telling me about his cats and his mum who used to live with him. Try not to feel scared of him, he isn’t being malicious at all! He does have a carer but unfortunately they don’t seem to be around as much as they should. Just keep away from him if you feel threatened by it.
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someone post a picture so we can go slap the creep
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I hope you go senile and get strangers being this nasty to you in your old age.
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Wow, this guy has been doing this for years! He did it to me outside co-op (not even co-op anymore!) on portswood high street 2/3 years ago. He got in my way as I came out of the shop, then hit my shins and dropped his stick in front of me, which I then quickly picked up and handed back to him as I apologised (despite having done nothing wrong, how British of me) and walked off. Not sure if there’s anything menacing about it though, this was in the middle of the day on a busy street, maybe he’s just lonely and trying to get a conversation!
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This is so shocking!
He dropped his bag while I was walking past him on the pavement along Portswood a couple of months ago. I asked him “Do you need any help?”, in response to which he just crossed the (very busy) road by diagonal, leaving his bags behind on the pavement. He very nearly got hit by a car as he didn’t even look left or right while crossing. I was so puzzled by all of this but just decided he was mentally unstable and felt sorry for him. He looked liked this as well, the way he stared at me and his reaction were beyond weird.
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This happened to me earlier this year, by the bus shelter on Portswood. I was with a group of friend (guys and girls) in the early evening, so it was light, and he moved as if to let me past, threw his stick at my legs in the same way the article described, and then threw his shopping bag in the other direction. I asked if he was ok and he just shouted and pointed at his stick as if it was my fault. So I picked up his stuff and walked on, but he didn’t try to touch me. I later saw him stepping out in front of a girl on a bike and doing a similar thing, but at that point lots of people stepped in to help. But that could have been pretty dangerous, as the girl had to stop and get off her bike or she’d have hit him!
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The same thing happened to me! I was with some friends (guys and girls) and he stepped to one side as if to let us past the bus shelter on Portswood high street. He threw he stick at my shins then his bag in the opposite direction and yelled at me like it was my fault. I asked if he was ok then picked his stuff up and he walked off. I was pretty shaken after because I was worried if he was OK. Later on I saw him try to do the same thing to a girl on a bike. A lot of other people stepped in at that point, but she had to stop and get off her bike to avoid hitting him.
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He threw the infamous stick at me about 3 years ago whilst I was cycling, I nearly went flying! But I stopped and picked it up for him more out of confusion that anything else. He looked equally confused
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I’ve had a similar encounter!
A couple of months ago I was jogging along Highfield Lane coming up to the Sainsbury’s junction (by the cashpoint) when this man crossed the road to the side that I was running on. As I passed he threw his stick between my legs and I had to jump over it to avoid getting hit. He also shouted fairly aggressively but I had my headphones in so I don’t know what he said. I thought he might have fallen so turned around to see if he needed help, but he looked very angry as though I had done something wrong. Fortunately a guy was walking past and had already made to pick up his stick so I continued running – given his reaction I wasn’t keen to go and talk to him!
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He did the same to me!! I was cycling and he threw the stick in front of me and made it seem like it was my fault. Weirdo.
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Are the police going to sort this out cause he is obviously a) hurting people by hitting them deliberately with a stick. B) an accident waiting to happen as he throws sticks in front of bicycles. C) intimidating and shouting abuse at women.
He needs to get off the street….
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It seems I’m one of the only ones who hasn’t had the experience of having bags or a walking stick thrown at me…what happened was he gestured to me to help him cross the road so I did, he told me he doesn’t see very well, that his guide dog just died and that he was getting another on the weekend, had to give him my arm which, reading this, I now feel a bit creeped out about then he asked to go a bit further to the bank. There weren’t any more roads to cross so I left there, he asked if I wanted anything (assuming he meant money) so I just said no but come to think of it, I did feel a bit strange with the way he looked at me, tried not to judge though because he’s old.
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I hope nobody is unkind to this man as a result of you posting a photo, he is clearly mentally unstable and its obviously wise to be cautious but stigmatising him does not sit well with me. There are already comments on here referring to giving him a ‘slap’ and that he’s a ‘weirdo’ :/ (admittedly he does seem like a danger to unsuspecting cyclists)
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He did the exact same to me..dropped his bag and asked me to help him saying he was weak and feeling poorly, he then said he was unsteady on his feet and wanted to hold my hand…so I helped him along and then he tried taking me down this path near the flats near sainsburys but then I realised his intentions were bad and i felt unsafe as I was on my own yet he was being persistent , luckily I asked a nearby stranger to help me and to escort this man away from me..this time last year.. such a horrid man.
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What? – What the fu()k are you on? This person is attacking innocent females who have clearly been distressed by this. It doesn’t matter if this chap is fit and healthy or has issues of some kind, people should be made aware of potential danger so they can avoid it.
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Have had a past experience with this elderly man, although not the same situation. He evidently has health issues, whether mental or physical, I know this because during my second year myself and a friend unknowingly (until reading this article when I recognised him) helped him back into his home after he had fallen outside what turned out to be his own house. After helping him back into the home and chatting for a very short time it was apparent he was suffering from something and continually mentioned his nurse who he thought was stealing from him. After leaving and returning to my house I noticed a police car and ambulance outside his home (as I lived across the street from him). Being curious I step outside to ask the paramedic what the issue was, the paramedic stated that the man was under home care and on various occasions had called the paramedics to seek help and confirmed he had mental health issues.
I in no way condone his actions and think they are creepy and inappropriate on every level. However, the man is undoubtedly ill and if at all possible just steer clear of him. As the article recommends if something does happen report it.
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This geezer is proper off his nut
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Censoring comments that don’t agree with your reporters utterly biased and amateur reporting style? Pathetic.
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This is the Tab’s new policy. One sided reporting with censoring of comments and claiming it is due liable risks.
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