British 'Naked Rambler' Gets Jail Sentence
Wed Jan 7,11:20 AM ET
LONDON - A man trying to walk the length of Britain naked to promote
public nudity was convicted Wednesday of breaching the peace and
sentenced to three months in jail.
Stephen Gough, 44, has endured repeated arrests since setting out in
June to walk the 847 miles from Land's End in southwest England to
John O'Groats in Scotland's far north.
He was most recently apprehended Nov. 29 after residents of Evanton,
a village in the Scottish Highlands, complained about his walking
through town wearing only boots, socks and a knapsack. He had been
released from jail just hours earlier.
Gough, wearing only a scarlet prison blanket tied with a police belt
at his trial in Dingwall Sheriff Court in the Highlands, argued that
he had been exercising his right to free expression as guaranteed by
the Human Rights Act.
"There is no law saying 'Thou shalt not go naked,'" Gough said. "All
I am doing is dressing how I want to dress and believing what I want
to believe. ... I am taking a stand and I hope that inspires others
to do the same."
He said he had undertaken his hike to "celebrate myself as a human
being" and show people the nude body is beautiful, not disgusting.
There is no law in Britain against public nudity. However, there are
laws against indecent exposure which requires proof of intent to
insult a woman or any behavior likely to cause "harassment, alarm or
distress."
Evanton resident Robert Thow, who testified at Gough's trial, said he
had reported the naked walker to police because he worried about what
effect his appearance might have on women and children.
"I think there is a time and a place for it," he said. "I did not
think Evanton was the place for it, or any other village."
He suggested that Gough could have walked around the town instead of
through it.
Sheriff Edward Savage, who also convicted Gough for breaching the
terms of his bail, chastised him while handing down the sentence.
"You seemed determined, Mr. Gough, to break the law," he said.
Gough, of Eastleigh in southern England, will get credit for the
month he's already spent in jail
