My article written for the Linc about Drunken Pranks

A drunken prank went too far last month when two students wearing disguises broke into a flat at the Junxion, terrifying the residents. The student flat was terrorised in the early hours of the morning by intruders wearing horse-face masks entering one of the bedrooms.

Julie Knapp, a second-year psychology student who lives in the flat, says: “I was very frightened that someone was capable of getting into our flat. It is believed they did so by taking the keys from one of the residents’ bags. I am very disappointed that students who are meant to be mature and grown up would find it amusing to intrude [on] a person’s flat to play pranks on them at 4am in the morning.”
She also explains how the prank, which left her very shaken up, reached a whole new level when the mask-wielding intruders got into her flatmate’s bedroom, awakening her. Julie explains that her flat mate “woke up terrified”, and when she got up to confront the people involved they ran out only to return again once she had got back into bed, shouting “I’m back!”

When the flat’s residents complained about the intrusion to the Junxion’s staff, they quickly reacted by changing the flat’s locks, and were apologetic about the incident. Knapp says: “I am very happy about the locks being changed. Within five minutes of the complaint we had a knock at the door with maintenance wanting to change our locks.” She also says that she would have no issues with approaching the Junxion office again as they were “very helpful with the situation and very sorry that it had happened.”

Ross Cummings, a fine art student from the same flat, says: “This was disgraceful behaviour and was a very difficult experience for the whole of the flat [who] felt it was necessary to have the locks changed to keep our minds at rest.”

Knapp also told The Linc how she discovered the identity of one of the intruders after he bragged about his involvement to her at a party. She says: “He was very apologetic when we said to him that he had frightened us and said he felt as though maybe him and his fellow flatmate had gone too far with the prank.”

Daniel Gahnstrom, one of the intruders, admits he loves to play drunken pranks. He says: “[Pranks are] so much more fun when you’ve had a few. You don’t care about the consequences, or who you upset and make cry, because you’re drunk and it’s good fun.” However, he believes that pranks shouldn’t be violent, “just funny so you upset someone in a non-physical way.” He also claims he plays drunken pranks regularly, admitting to knocking over bikes on the street and smashing plant pots. “We once put a fish through somebody’s letter box. It was funny. We once climbed on someone’s roof and then fell off pulling the guttering down with us,” says Gahnstrom.