[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-29800016 ]It is not your human right to prance around in the buff, apaprently[/url]
Does seem a shame though, he's not harming anyone and we're wasting 10s of £k imprisoning him....
Between May 2006 and October 2012 he enjoyed a total of seven days' liberty and spent most of his detention in segregation because he refused to wear clothes.
footflaps - MemberDoes seem a shame though, he's not harming anyone and we're wasting 10s of £k imprisoning him....
Law on public nudity does need changing imo.
I'd have no problem if it was legalised.
Can't see it's beyond us to structure legislation in such a way that makes it acceptable whilst protecting the public from harm.
it's a bit nippy out, don't reckon he's offending anyone showing off his shriveled little peanut.
The guy would appear to be mentally ill and probably needs professional help rather than punishment, but in the UK we use prison as a simple solution to deal with mental health issues.
sorry, how is he mentally ill?
because he likes to walk round in the buff?!
sorry, how is he mentally ill?
I would suggest that the fact is is prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison rather than wear a pair of shorts would suggest he isn't quite all there.
Agree with Footflaps, astonishing to think he has spent so long in jail for walking around in the nud. He does seem to be not wired up right or he just wont back down.
I would suggest that the fact is is prepared to spend the rest of his life in prison rather than wear a pair of shorts would suggest he isn't quite all there.
😯
This must be the most apposite thread headline I will read today.
As just got out the shower, and I have beard.
Now...where's me pants?
He should make himself a lycra naked-suit and walk about in that. Would be warmer.
on the legal side, this makes interesting reading:
http://thejusticegap.com/2014/10/naked-rambler-prosecution-law-making-look-ridiculous/
It is not, in itself, unlawful to go naked in public. It is an offence under S.66 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to expose ones genitals with intent that someone should thereby be caused ‘alarm or distress’ but nobody has ever suggested that Mr Gough had such an intent. It can be an offence to cause a public nuisance and ‘harm the morals of the public or their comfort, or obstruct the public in the enjoyment of their rights’ but as an earlier and more successful nudist, Vincent Bethell, showed in 2001 juries are reluctant to find that merely being naked in the street does anything of the sort.Prosecutors are too canny to charge Mr Gough with these offences, not least because there are defences to them and they fear that he would be acquitted.
Mr Gough has in the past been charged under S.5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which makes it an offence to use: ‘threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour … within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby … .’
This offence however, is only triable in the Magistrates Court and cannot be punished by a sentence of imprisonment.
So the only way that Mr Gough can be reliably restrained is to tailor him, as it were, a bespoke ASBO. As far as I am aware nobody else is subject to a similar order.
The result is that the only person in the country who actually wants to wander naked around the streets of Winchester is also the only man in the country who commits a crime by doing so.
Now...where's me pants?
wonder if he goes about naked in prison?
He does, hence his solitary confinement.
Footflaps mental illness isn't something that should be trivialised, as above, he isn't breaking the law and doesn't want to wear clothes. why should he?
Between May 2006 and October 2012 he enjoyed a total of seven days' liberty and spent most of his detention in segregation because he refused to wear clothes.
I find this quite sad, clearly the fella enjoys being out in the fresh air, so imprisonment must be doubly difficult for him...
I did note:
...former Royal Marine...
So a 55 year old former Marine, could have served in the Falklands conflict? Hence probably not a great fan of authority?
I'm making massive leaps here by the way... Just wondering is this is a battle of wills between a very stubborn man and exasperated law enforcers... The root cause for his not complying may well lie further back in his past...
The legal system has painted itself into a corner here, its the contempt of court from which there is no escape for him. Agreed it's all a spectacular waste of money.
If he's insistent on being naked, why's he wearing a hat and what appears to be a buff?
("buff," hehe)
So completely uncovering yourself is punished although not illegal whilst completely covering yourself is OK.
There are a few nudists around here (SW France), tolerated so far although one guy on the Basque Coast in the habit of walking naked in both France ans Spain sometimes gets picked up by the police. Cases generally go in favour of the nudists
Edukator if that's the same guy we used to see here in San Sebastian, ISTR he got into bother with the local police as he was coming with his (also naked ) son, who was a minor. Certainly haven't seen him for a couple of years.
It's bizarre that so many are upset by our natural state.
My cats can't get their head around it
Have you seen the size of his rucksack? Must have a lot of hats and buffs.
I don't think Footflaps is trivialising mental health.
IRC he got into a lot more bother in Scotland than he did in England as the law if different up here.
Can't remember the exact details, but in England unless he was doing something really odd that caused alarm or distress (which he wasn't) he was OK. In Scotland it was more strict and he kept getting lifted by the police.
Essentially, he's trying to take on "the system". The system will win as it's not a cause many people want to take up. Frankly, it's too cold and wet for it to be high up society's list of things to rebel over.
I don't think Footflaps is trivialising mental health.
What by claiming the guy has obvious issues because he is standing up for what he wants to do?
yourguitarhero - Member
It's bizarre that so many are upset by our natural state.
My cats can't get their head around it
You disgust me.
*Calls the police*
*Calls the RSPCA*
Drac - Moderator
What by claiming the guy is has obvious issues because he is standing up for what he wants to do?
Footflaps is suggesting that his high level of resistance to compliance could be caused by underlying psychiatric problems - not that there is anything trivial about the situation, his response or mental health.
He's not saying laugh at the crazy guy with no clothes.
Personally I have no issues with his preference to walk around naked. I would worry if he does this through the winter too though - more about exposure and hypothermia risks.
Haven't read the link but
He does seem to be not wired up right or he just wont back down.
Is it TandemJeremy?
Saying someone clearly has mental health issues because they do something different to others is trivialising it. No one claimed Footflaps was pointing and laughing.
I dont agree with what footflaps said and odd behaviour, even if i dont get why they want to do it, is not necessarily a mental health issue. I am sure this man has been professionally assessed by now so the internet diagnosis is as pointless as it is inaccurate.
I am not sure why we want to criminalise what he does either
I would prefer a compromise with him where he could do it in say certain areas - walks or whatever and tended to not go shopping in the nude.
Failing that leave him to it as I doubt he will compromise.
Footfalls is suggesting that his high level of resistance to compliance could be caused by underlying psychiatric problems - not that there is anything trivial about the situation, his response or mental health.
I'm positive that at some point in the whole process he has been assessed.
Probably many, many times.
Perhaps he's just stubborn, determined and a bit eccentric?
Perhaps he does have mental health issues and is being treated for them?
Millions of people are.
Just because he's prepared to be locked up to defend his beliefs doesn't mean he automatically has issues significant enough to require incarceration or intervention.
EDIT - beaten to it by Junky. Great minds etc....
🙂
Read a good, slightly sad interview with him in Teh Grauniad a couple of years ago:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/23/naked-rambler-prison
Some interesting quotes from the article if it's tl;dr:
"Yeah, of course. I wake up in the morning and think, what the **** am I doing here? But what I'm doing isn't about me. I'm challenging society and it must be challenged because it's wrong."...
[b]Gough isn't mad[/b]. "They do evaluations all the time." He smiles. "I'm on top of my game mentally. I've got clarity. If I feel down, then I'm straight on the case, trying to work out why."
He emerged from more than two years of segregation with faultless psychological examinations. "If you or I spent two years in segregation," Good says, "we'd probably show signs of trauma. It just shows how focused he's become. He's immune to his surroundings."
I would prefer a compromise with him where he could do it in say certain areas - walks or whatever and tended to not go shopping in the nude.
Wasn't that one of the big issues originally? That he refused to deviate from his planned course near a school when directed to by police? Or am I misremembering?
If I were in charge I'd confine him to a nudest beach with an order to not come within 50 feet of the exit to said beach or he'll be arrested and...er...sent back to the beach.
I haven't given much thought to how he'd get food and the like but he seems more than capable, as an ex marine, to catch his own fish etc.
If I were in charge I'd confine him to a nudest beach with an order to not come within 50 feet of the exit to said beach or he'll be arrested and...er...sent back to the beach.
Why? What possible harm is he doing that merits such draconian punishment?
where he does he put his wallet when popping down the shops? 😯
Why? What possible harm is he doing that merits such draconian punishment?
Hey, it's my imaginary Utopian society! I can do as I wish.
There was a report on France 3 last year on the Hendaye/Irun naturist, Bob, no son so a different guy. He had less hassle from the population on the Spanish side so the report was filmed there.
Wasn't that one of the big issues originally? That he refused to deviate from his planned course near a school when directed to by police? Or am I misremembering?
I think you are correct on that one IIRC.
TBH my kids would find it hilarious if a nude bloke walked past the gate.
Footflaps mental illness isn't something that should be trivialised, as above, he isn't breaking the law and doesn't want to wear clothes. why should he?
I'm not.
To have such an obsession over something so trivial (to everyone else) and to pay such a high price for it (loss of liberty, job, everything basically), is not normal by any means. His behaviour is quite extreme.
As for being assessed, I'm sure he has, but as he isn't a threat to himself or anyone else, he won't get sectioned, hence just fed back into the justice system.
Hey, it's my imaginary Utopian society! I can do as I wish.
Absolutely - but being confined to a beach with no food doesn't sound very utopian to me 😀
but as he isn't a threat to himself or anyone else
Leave him alone.
doesn't sound very utopian to me
It ain't gonna be for those with beards, that's for true.
