Naked Uncle Sprints to Chase Van Over Mistaken Kidnapping

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By Sahar Adatia and Jimmy Singh.

It’s a modern-day truth: Not all heroes wear capes.

And now, it seems some don’t wear anything at all.

If you were to ask 29-year-old British man, Nathan Murphy, what on earth it would take for him to brashly bolt out of his house boasting his birthday suit, he probably wouldn’t respond with much.

Indeed, the self-confessed “big lad” admits he weighs 18 stone (that’s about 115kg), so running perhaps isn’t his strength.

But now, the man from North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, has unexpectedly become a viral sensation after he dashed out of his house naked to chase a van that he believed was carrying his kidnapped 11-year-old niece.

The only problem was, the girl showed up moments later – and clearly wasn’t kidnapped.

A hero nonetheless for doing what any protective parent would do, nude Mr Murphy was left red-faced, saying the embarrassment definitely kicked in.

A Mistaken Kidnapping – How the Incident Came to Bare Itself (Along with Mr Murphy)

According to reports from The Sun, the befuddled incident is said to have occurred in the morning of 8 July 2020, when Mr Murphy was sleeping and suddenly awoke to screaming.

He soon realised the sounds were those of his 40-year-old sister, Natalie, wailing and squealing in the front yard of the house because she was convinced her daughter, Lucy, had been kidnapped in a van that stopped nearby after hearing banging and cries of “mum” that resembled the young girl’s voice distinctly.

With no time to spare, not even enough to put a pair of underpants on, Mr Murphy raced out of his home to chase down the lorry he believed had snatched little Lucy.

The panicked uncle sprinted towards his dad’s car which was parked in the front yard, hoping to give chase, but he was so fuelled with adrenaline that as he attempted to quickly pull open the door to get in, his legs buckled and he fell to the ground.

Alas, the man’s panic rapidly turned into embarrassment when Lucy, oblivious to everything that had happened, suddenly appeared, casually walking past him to get to the front door.

Naked and mortified, the man was left with the stark realisation that nothing was amiss after all.

Naked Memories Live On as CCTV Exposes Footage of Chase

Drawing out Mr Murphy’s embarrassment, it turns out CCTV managed to capture footage of the naked rescue attempt.

And since the naked rescue attempt, Mr Murphy’s father, a 64-year-old retired bricklayer, has also shared the hilarious footage on Facebook, which has now racked up almost 500,000 views and more than 14,000 likes, shares and comments.

While Mr Murphy was initially appalled at the idea of his father uploading the clip to Facebook, he expressed he eventually saw “the bigger picture of it and thought it’d be a good laugh for people and a bit of banter”.

Looking back at it all, the mortifying moment remained fresh in his mind.

“I’d been asleep and as I was waking up all I heard was screaming. I opened the window and thought someone had been run over or was getting stabbed or something,” he said, continuing that at this point he quickly jumped out of bed.

“I tried to find my clothes and I ended up just grabbing a t-shirt thinking it was my bottoms and I flew downstairs.

“I’m a big lad, I’m 18 stone, but I can move when I need to and because the adrenaline was rushing through me, I went weak in the legs and I just fell over.

“My dad’s car doors lock automatically when someone gets in, so I got up and started screaming for him to let me in because I was naked and half the street was out looking.”

Mr Murphy said as he got in the car and suddenly saw Lucy come around the corner, that’s when the embarrassment kicked in.

As for Lucy’s mother, it wasn’t long before she saw the funny side of the momentarily terrifying experience, joking that her brother “had his f**king willy out and everything”.

“I couldn’t stop laughing,” Natalie said.

“But at least I know he’s got my back and I know he’s going to be there for me.

“I asked him what he’d have done if it did really happen and he followed this van, because he’d have been bare-a*se boxing with someone.”

A hero, indeed, Mr Murphy. Next time just try to remember your pants.

Fortunately for the Murphy family, little Lucy was not kidnapped.

Kidnapping in NSW is a crime, carrying up to 14-years jail and is prescribed under section 86(1) of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW).

For a basic kidnapping offence, a person is guilty if the person: