Naked Rambler walks free from prison - and walks away nude

[Davin]

Today he appeared in court naked, in which he told the judge he felt approriately dressed

http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/128890...rt-appearance/

[Kouak]

Steve Gough had a pretrial hearing following a brief taste of freedom and his latest arrest. He seems likely to pick up another contempt of court sentence and whatever they do to him for beach of the peace. A TV station quoted this exchange:

Sheriff Richard Macfarlane said: "You appear today unclothed, is there a reason?"
Gough replied: "Freedom."
The sheriff said: "... I ask you, Stephen Gough, are you prepared to dress appropriately?"
Gough replied: "I think I am dressed appropriately."
Sheriff Macfarlane: "You're not dressed at all."
Gough said: "I think that's appropriate."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-19209224

Seems like there is a case of deja vu on this forum.

[Stu2630]

UPDATE

Naked rambler faces mental health checks after breaking down in court

A sheriff in Kirkcaldy has asked for mental health checks on Stephen Gough after the naked rambler broke down in court.
...

He had been agitated and seemed near to breaking down earlier in the hearing, prompting the sheriff, James Williamson, to order criminal social work reports into Gough's mental wellbeing before sentencing. Gough told the court he had last had psychiatric tests or social work evaluation several years ago.
In his emotional final plea, Gough, heavily bearded and gaunt, referred to allegations made by the prosecutor, Brian Robertson, and complaints from two civilian witnesses about the alleged impact on their children of seeing him walking naked through Townhill, near Dunfermline.
His voice breaking before he began audibly sobbing,...

Williamson told him: "There were certain points in your evidence and certain points in your summing up where I was concerned about your emotional behaviour, and I was a bit concerned as to whether or not you were in control of yourself. I want somebody independent to see whether your mental health is all that is should be because, in the absence of any good reason otherwise, you're going to end up serving prison sentence after prison sentence."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/au...-health-checks

Stu

[Mosquito_Bait]

His voice breaking before he began audibly sobbing, Gough said: "There's nothing about me as a human being that is indecent or alarming or offensive. That's where I'm coming from, which is deep inside.

"So this provocative nature that the man [Robertson] is suggesting I have is nothing of the kind. It's me, standing up for what I am. [Because] all of us are human beings too and we have children and our children are beautiful and we're beautiful too, because we're human beings – all the same. I have nothing to be ashamed about. I'm just a bloke standing up for the truth of what I am."

His statements seem quite sane. His emotions speak to the strength of his convictions.

The article doesn't mention anything about being cited for contempt of court, which is remarkable as he was standing nude in the court as he made the above statements.

[Sanslines]

His voice breaking before he began audibly sobbing, Gough said: "There's nothing about me as a human being that is indecent or alarming or offensive. That's where I'm coming from, which is deep inside.

"So this provocative nature that the man [Robertson] is suggesting I have is nothing of the kind. It's me, standing up for what I am. [Because] all of us are human beings too and we have children and our children are beautiful and we're beautiful too, because we're human beings – all the same. I have nothing to be ashamed about. I'm just a bloke standing up for the truth of what I am."

His statements seem quite sane. His emotions speak to the strength of his convictions.

The article doesn't mention anything about being cited for contempt of court, which is remarkable as he was standing nude in the court as he made the above statements.

Maybe....just maybe......someday society will look beyond the superficial image and see the real person for who he or she is inside. We all claim that what is inside a person is what counts but then we judge mercilessly based upon what a person looks like and that includes the clothes that the person wears.

[Stu2630]

The article doesn't mention anything about being cited for contempt of court, which is remarkable as he was standing nude in the court as he made the above statements.

I read somewhere that he will not be charged with contempt of court this time because he made a deal with the court in advance. He was allowed to appear nude on condition he remained seated behind the wooden facade of the dock and did not stand during the proceedings, enabling only his head and shoulders to be visible. He agreed to this, apparently, which is odd because he is generally entirely uncooperative.

So he will be sentenced only for a breach of the peace this time.

Stu

[David77]

I feel sorry for Gough in his depressed state. Being in prison and if in solitary confinement for six years would be enough to make anyone (at least) depressed. I hope that the prison medical doctor gives him at least medication to increase endorphans.

However I do not feel sorry for those who were surprised by seeing him walking nude, as it did not harm them.

I think, for his and his family's sake, he should surrender from his crusade. I hope that he sees a competent psychitrist who can help him adjust to the horrendous, vile, atrocious laws on nudity.

[Stu2630]

However I do not feel sorry for those who were surprised by seeing him walking nude, as it did not harm them.

I think, for his and his family's sake, he should surrender from his crusade. I hope that he sees a competent psychitrist who can help him adjust to the horrendous, vile, atrocious laws on nudity.

I'm a bit surprised, David. I never imagined you to have such militant views on public nudity.

It won't surprise you that I do feel sorry for those who were upset by Mr Gough because I would have been upset and seething with anger, especially had he exposed himself like that while my children were present. I certainly don't regard the laws as "horrendous, vile, atrocious" - but as entirely reasonable and desirable.

Mr Gough is on a crusade: it his intention and purpose that people will see him because he has taken it upon himself to travel from England to Scotland to confront laws that I think most people in Scotland regard as reasonable. If they don't effectively change the laws to suit him, then he will make the Scottish taxpayers pay heavily for defying him. That is pure arrogance and also a kind of blackmail. The authorities are right to stand firm against him.

Mr Gough is not a nudist. His comments on nudism are mildly contemptuous of nudism and nudists like you. His behaviour will do nothing to advance the interests of organised nudism and he might actually bring it into disrepute.

Stu

[Agde]

...He was allowed to appear nude on condition he remained seated behind the wooden facade of the dock and did not stand during the proceedings, enabling only his head and shoulders to be visible...

...how did he get to his seat (or leave) without standing??? I've never been in an English court, so perhaps there is a back door behind the dock? Just curious.

The concept of "exposed himself" is a very curious textile notion. A person is a person, to whom sunglasses, shoes, fabric or other accessories may be added. "Exposed" is a word like "naked" that somehow has built-in the assumption of default fabric covering, as if a house isn't a house without wallpaper. Add the reflexive pronoun "himself" and it tries to point an accusative finger, but actually just makes clear that the speaker is helplessly (sexually?) fixated on the other person's genitals. When we go to the beach, some of the other people wear swimsuits -- we are not exposing ourselves, they are covering themselves...

[Stu2630]

...how did he get to his seat (or leave) without standing??? I've never been in an English court, so perhaps there is a back door behind the dock? Just curious.

A prisoner appearing while in custody is often in a secure dock entering from the back or even under the main court room.

The concept of "exposed himself" is a very curious textile notion. A person is a person, to whom sunglasses, shoes, fabric or other accessories may be added. "Exposed" is a word like "naked" that somehow has built-in the assumption of default fabric covering, as if a house isn't a house without wallpaper. Add the reflexive pronoun "himself" and it tries to point an accusative finger, but actually just makes clear that the speaker is helplessly (sexually?) fixated on the other person's genitals

I'm not sure it is just textiles who would have this notion. If a man on a bus exposed himself in an aroused state to your 12-year-old daughter, I think you might use the term. The difference is that the circumstances in which you regard genitals are visible being regarded as "exposing himself" would be narrower and more overtly sexual than many textiles' perception. The reflexive pronoun is used as a systematic euphemistic metaphor in which a male sex organ is referred to as "his person". The old offence of indecent exposure in English law was "lewdly or obscenely exposes his person". The pronoun "himself" is an extension of that.

I do not think I am "helplessly (sexually?) fixated" on the genitals, because I regard such exposure to people who he already knows may very well be upset by his exposure of them to be just as bad as if he did so for sexual reasons.

Stu