to think its an atrocity that this man has spent 6 years in prison?!!?

[imonthefone]

6 years!

6 years!

for being naked

some rapists have done less than that!

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Gough

www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/23/naked-rambler-mental-health-checks

I think there is time and a place for this sort of thing in the home yes in our green and pleasant land no, when I'm in the countryside the only bushes I want to see are hawthorns. .

let off being naked? ludicrous!

Me too.

Completely different.

Right, ok..... Do when all the sex offenders are hanging around schools And shopping centres etc naked, semi naked etc, you are still cool with that yes?

Someone flashed me when i was 18, my reaction was "what a sad, pathetic individual" and i reported him to the transport police. Didn't upset me but clearly that was his aim hence i reported it. Random naked person, not bothered.

theyd be easier to spot blackberry!

I don't mind the nakedness.

I do mind sex offenses. Clothed or naked.

2 completely different things.

What is the link between nudity and sex offences? Struggling to see it. Do you think peedos and rapists habitually wander around naked? Cos they don't.

I see from the Guardian article that all his prison time has been in Scotland, as that is the only place he has been arrested, despite walking naked from Lands End to John O'Groats more than once (and is currently attempting to walk naked back to Southampton).

Are there differences in whether and how English and Scottish law deals with public nudity?

I think it could be quite triggering for people who have been affected by flashers or been raped in public places to have to see a man prancing about naked when you're just popping to the shops for a loaf of bread.

Never mind all the nudist stuff, I couldn't care less, but I do resent the implication that because I object to him being naked in public makes me mental, unreasonable, victorian and puritan!

The problem is and I understand this thread has descended into naked bosom clasping the law is supposed to be blind. You can't say, this guy seems harmless to me, that guy doesn't. If a creepy, naked man was hanging around my children, I would want them not doing it. But it is not that different to this. You can't have the law so mutable. It is already a racist, sexist and discriminatory world even with laws that can be universally applied.

BTW if we were a society like Sweden where everyone likes to be naked all the time I think it would be a bit different. But as it stands nakedness in public is not usual and the interpretation is that he is doing it to shock.

Men get involuntary erections for no reason whatsoever at times.

Can you imagine the fucking uproar if some poor bloke got one while walking through the park/past a school?

And would you really want to sit on a bench after a naked man or woman has possibly left 'natural secretions' on it?

I wouldn't go as far as to say it's an atrocity but it does seem rather heavy handed to me

shirley i dont think there was any ^implication...i think it was explicitly stated!

I would bet my socks that most rape victims would not find a naked man in public triggering at all

Interesting Edith...i hadnt clocked that...

I remember being flashed on my way to school and when the man opened his coat for a reaction I informed him I had changed bigger when babysitting,h the pathetic looser sat down and cried. We called the police and they found the pathetic looser where we had left him in tears.

We had to go to court and when the judge asked what had happened and we retold the court and repeated what I had said he cried in court (there was a snigger or two from around the room) what a pathetic looser.

yes, the law is different in Scotland but across the uk there is no such offence as being naked in public

A law allowing this would be open to abuse. You wouldn't be able to police it adequately.

A rambler, a shopkeeper or the unemployed men sat on the park bench. They could all be legitimately naked then. So could a sex offender. After all, the laws the law and he is competing no offence

*committing

Thanks for that worra I'd never thought about park benches and natural secretions, now I'm wondering how many people have sex on them

Blackberry that is arse backwards logic.

you don't need a law to allow it because it is not illegal

It's true though!

I think you'd need a little towel for public seating. Imagine the splinters.

there was a case a couple of years back where someone stood naked on a plinth in trafalger square. Someone complained but it was decided no offence had been committed

I could never use public transport again if everyone was naked.