Regular readers of barristerblogger may recall that I have previously written rather sympathetically about Stephen Gough the booted and bearded ex-Marine, better known as “The Naked Rambler.” Who has just been gaoled for another two and a half years.
Well I apologise for doing so again because there are of course any number of more important issues, except to him. Mr Gough is a strange obsessive, whose determination never to wear clothes has apparently even alienated him from his own children.
His obsessiveness is matched by the determination of Hampshire Police and Wessex CPS who have been relentless and very successful in their attempts to ensure that the sensitive residents of Winchester are not caused any distress by the sight of Mr Gough’s private parts. They have persuaded a court to impose an indefinite anti-social behaviour order, or ASBO, on him, which means that he commits a criminal offence if he does not wear his clothes in public. The only exceptions are that he is allowed to go naked in a changing room, on a nudist beach or for a medical examination. Continue reading “Stop wasting public money prosecuting and gaoling the Naked Rambler.”