The mime artist (pictured above) was seen handing out leaflets to residents and asking for donations
Organisers of a village fete are hunting down a mime artist who fleeced locals of charity donations before fleeing with the cash.
The mystery suspect had attended the event in the Forest of Dean, wandering around the carnival in a body morph suit.
Communicating only through mime, he handed out forms to residents to guess his identity and to pledge £1, offering a £100 prize fund to the person who could correctly unmask him.
The entry form said: 'Is it a bird, is it a plane. No it's Woolaston's Mystery Man' - with space for people to leave contact details and guesses.
Revellers attending the carnival on June 22 assumed he was a local resident raising cash for the hall fund and many paid a pound - and even posed for selfies.
His identity remained a secret throughout the day- but within hours of him raising an estimated several hundred pounds he is now feared to have fled with the proceeds.
Villagers say they still don't know if they have been duped or are victims of a bad joke by the man who hid his face and communicated with everyone only by mime.
And now those behind the Woolaston Carnival have issued a desperate plea for the man to hand over the money before they call in police.
Carnival co-ordinator Andy Morgan Watts who led the parade in his vintage car dressed as a ringmaster said the mime artist just appeared and that people had been applauding him because it seemed such a clever way of raising money.
A flyer the mime artist distributed to residents who gave him cash
'But when he disappeared it left a bad taste because people thought they had been giving money to charity.
'I still like to believe that he is just dragging it out to get the maximum amount of money possible from a good idea.
'Some people think I'm being too kind but we will have to wait and see which way it goes. It's clearly as black and white as his suit.'
Organisers said they did not think there was anything sinister about the man in the chequered morph suit who joined the carnival parade as it wended its way around the small upmarket village which is just off the A48.
He even cheekily put his belongings in the back of a vintage car and made a thumbs up sign so he would have his hands free to hand out leaflets.
'There's nothing unusual in people joining the parade so we didn't think much of it when he snuck in,' said Sue Anderson who is on the carnival committee.
'Everyone thought it was a great idea and he was
