An ex-policeman who had a vigilante vendetta against a notorious car clamper known as “Dick Turpin” for his zealous targeting of drivers for 30 years ended up with a criminal record.
After repeatedly calling elderly retired JP Ted Evans a “paedophile” over his clamping activities in the idyllic West Yorkshire village of Haworth—once the home of the Bronte sisters—former PC Vaughan Evans, 61, was charged with harassment.
Evans, who is not related to the victim, loitered outside the 82-year-old businessman’s place of employment in the Central Car Park on North Street during his malicious hate campaign and yelled “Child f***er” in front of the man’s family. On Facebook, he later erroneously referred to him as a “kiddie fiddler.”
Evans would also mistakenly refer to the elderly man as a “bent magistrate” in YouTube videos of a song called “The Devils Clamper.” Didn’t you once rape children, according to a song lyric?
When the former police officer posted a selfie video about his namesake on Facebook, he said: “It is a nice day to have a pervert and his family filming me when I was just walking my dog.”
A second song that was posted on the video sharing website said: “In the rolling hills of Haworth lives a bad bad man.” I’ll just be honest with you about how you treat kids in a perverse way.
Mr. Evans, who once appeared in a Channel 4 documentary, was said to have experienced “distress and anxiety” as a result of the insults after he clamped Betty Boothroyd’s friend’s car in 2008, earning her wrath.
After Evans agreed to sign an undertaking that he would not harass the car park manager, his wife, or his children and that he would refrain from posting any further defamatory statements, he was later fired from West Yorkshire Police. In 2013, he had successfully obtained a civil injunction against Evans.
However, the clamper who claimed that the former PC was “obsessed” with his family had to obtain a second injunction last year and then filed a new complaint when Evans persisted in harassing him online.
After the victim’s son was put on trial for allegedly assaulting Evans but found not guilty by a jury, it became clear that the feud had started in 1992.
Evans, from Keighley near Bradford, was found guilty of harassment at Tameside Magistrates Court and given a 12-month restraining order prohibiting him from getting in touch with the Evans family, going within 100 meters of the car park, or posting anything online or in any other media about the family.
In addition, he had to pay £395 in fines and work 40 hours without pay. He denied doing anything wrong.
Since Mr. Evans started his car-clamping business in 1991, he has been called a “thorn in the side” of the community in the village where the Bronte sisters, Charlotte Emily, and Anne lived in the 1800s.
He had previously been charged with clamping the Australian prime minister, immobilizing a car while its driver was asleep, and clamping a minibus for children with disabilities.
His business, Carstoppers, won the RAC Dick Turpin Award for the “worst” clamper in the country in 2003.
With the message, “Sorry, kids, Santa can’t come, he’s forgotten to pay and display at Haworth,” the elderly man started selling T-shirts to raise money for charity in response.
Another T-shirt read, “You didn’t get me, I paid and displayed,” and featured Dick Turpin’s tricorn hat, mask, and crossed pistols.
According to prosecutor Richard Blackburn, the former constable and Mr. Evans were involved in “quite a few incidents.”
According to Mr. Blackburn, “the history dates back 30 years.” Edward Evans and his family are the proprietors of a parking lot in Haworth, West Yorkshire.
There is a sense of animosity between the defendant and the complainant that dates back to 1991, when wheel clamping was introduced, when the defendant was a serving police officer.
The son of the complainant, James, was charged with assaulting the defendant in a crown court hearing as a result of that highly contentious village action.
That was spoken in 1992, a very, very long time ago. It appears the defendant has not forgotten about this or other things that have happened between the defendant and the complainant, even though the complainant’s son was cleared of that allegation.
The defendant has consistently alleged and thought the complainant to be a child molester, Mr. Blackburn continued.
The complainant, his wife, and son Gareth were present at his place of employment in April 2021.
He claims to have spotted the defendant on the other side of the street.
The plaintiff feels humiliated and angry when the defendant whistles and yells “Child f***er” at him.
It was caught on camera, and the defendant called the complainant an elderly “kiddie fiddler” on Facebook the same day he yelled at Mr. Evans.
The complainant was quite worried that if others thought he was a child sex offender, they may target him because of that.
A second incident occurred when the defendant was singing a song about the complainant being the devil’s clamper as she passed the parking lot on the other side of the street.
The song has been altered to contain derogatory and abusive lyrics.
He interpreted them to mean that he was a crooked, biased magistrate. The complainant feels distressed and embarrassed by this.
He posted a video to YouTube and Facebook, and the complainant claims that it contains portions of the Devil’s Clamper lyrics and two occurrences of the phrase “Didn’t you used to rape children, once upon a time?”
That made him nervous. He was embarrassed. He captured that on tape and gave it to the police.
He claimed that the defendant called him “bent” and that the recording of that conversation was given to the police.
In May 2021, Mr. Evans filed a new civil injunction request against his namesake, but the ex-cop called him after receiving court documents accusing him of sending one of his sons to the address in question.
Evans spoke for himself when he added that he had never intended to upset anyone.
“I probably just wanted to annoy them because they were annoying me,” she said.
While there was a “incident” in 1991, he claimed there had been no contact for another 20 years until one of the complainant’s sons saw him and allegedly made remarks “about what he would like to do to my daughter.”
He denied that there had been a 30-year feud.
‘I have spoken about and published things but I have always been factual,’ he added: ‘Maybe my dark humour can be construed as offensive but for that I can only apologise.’ Becoming emotional, he added: ‘I’ve been provoked at the worst time of my life.
I thought that I acted proportionately trying to make a joke out of things but it has backfired on me.
‘I have struggled mentally and have even been arrested.
After dealing with the civil matter, the police were called in for the exact identical situation months later.
I never considered what I was doing to be illegal. I’ve always been able to tell right from wrong.
The chairman of the bench, Caroline Turner, sentenced Evans, saying, “The victim was distressed by more than one occurrence.”