Roger Hayhurst: Knight Warrior

Nineteen-year-old Roger Hayhurst is the not-so-secret identity of Salford, Greater Manchester's Knight Warrior--a gentle-looking guy who peacefully intervenes in drunken pub brawls and street fights. In his blue and black Lycra costume, the Knight Warrior is a force for decency and goodness, though his actions scare his mom a bit.

Mr Hayhurst ... says his only special power is a supernatural desire to make the world a better place.

‘When people see me coming up, it does tend to stun them into silence,’ he said.

‘I just carry on trying to get them to calm down, and eventually most of them do. If I think things are getting a bit hairy, I just back off and phone the police.

'They know what I am doing and have been very kind to me. Some of my friends think I am a bit odd but all I want to do is try and get people to like each other. I just want to do good in the world.’

Mr Hayhurst said his main aim was to sort out rows between people coming out of pubs or simply fighting on the streets. He lives with his mother Jennifer, 61, and grandad Alfred, 91, and also hands out clothing and food parcels to the homeless in Manchester city centre.

Mrs Hayhurst said she was always ‘slightly worried’ when her son went out – usually between 9pm and 2am, at least three times a week.

‘His absolute genuineness is his best defence,’ she said. ‘He is one of the kindest young men I know.’

In Seattle, care worker turned martial arts expert Phoenix Jones has been stabbed twice and shot once on similar crime-fighting missions on the streets of the US west coast city.

Link | Image: Cavendish Press