In order to clear up some of the rumour surrounding the very unusal incident yesterday at Streets Corner in Walsall Wood, today West Midlands Police have kindly issued a statement about the nature of the protest following requests from the online community.

The statement can be found here.

The text reads as follows:

‘ KIN member,

You may be aware of an incident that took place in Lichfield Road, Walsall, yesterday morning when a man scaled a telegraph pole and adopted a crucifixion pose – it sparked considerable media interest and an article appeared in today’s national Sun newspaper.

The police officers who attended spoke to the man; he confirmed his actions were designed as a protest in an ongoing issue he has with the health service.

West Midlands Police are aware of some rumours circulating, many on social networks, that the man was victim of some sort of vigilante action due to him being involved in criminal activity – specifically the recent murder outside the Anchor Inn, Brownhills, last Friday morning.

This is categorically untrue. The man involved is not part of that particular murder inquiry or any other on-going police investigation. In fact, until yesterday, he was not known to the police in relation to any matter.

Kind regards
DCI Mark Payne’

I would like to take this opportunity to thank DCI Payne, without whose patient and conscientious presence on Twitter, obtaining this clarification would have been far more difficult.