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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

179 replies

imonthefone · 03/09/2012 15:21

6 years!

6 years!

for being naked

some rapists have done less than that! Angry

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Gough

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

OP posts:
lurkedtoolong · 03/09/2012 16:07

I've got no problem with him being jailed for repeatedly breaking the law, but I do wonder if he has some mental health issues that are more in need of being addressed than him being criminalised. He's unable to grasp the fact that some people find his behaviour inappropriate and this causes him real distress. He needs help.

LadyBeagleEyes · 03/09/2012 16:07

He's clearly got some mental health issues.
Whether the law is right or wrong, he knows that he will be arrested as soon as he strips when he gets out of prison. Yet he continually does it.
He must bloody freeze in a Scottish winter though, and I don't want to sit on a bus or a coffee shop where someone's grubby bum has been minutes before.
Yuk.
I don't know what the law in England is, in Scotland it's breach of the peace.
Maybe he could stay dressed until he gets South of the border, and the English courts may give him more leeway.

Themumsnot · 03/09/2012 16:08

But Blackberry, a naked sex offender isn't committing a sex offence just because he or she is naked.

Themumsnot · 03/09/2012 16:09

I don't want to sit on a bus or a coffee shop where someone's grubby bum has been minutes before

They could carry little towels to sit upon.

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 03/09/2012 16:09

Very heavy-handed. He ought to be left alone.

And conflating this with ideas about flashers/paedophiles etc is rubbish.

SheelaNeGig · 03/09/2012 16:10

And do chaps really get unprovoked erections? How can i get to 38 and not know that?

WorraLiberty · 03/09/2012 16:10

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

I was thinking more about vaginal discharge, but don't let that put you off your dinner Grin

WorraLiberty · 03/09/2012 16:11

Yes Sheela they do.

It's just caused by a rush of blood...same as 'morning glory'.

EnglishGirlApproximately · 03/09/2012 16:13

I don't have a problem with him being naked, I do have a problem with him thinking he can just choose which laws he should abide by.

If we all just decided not to bother with laws that don't suit us it would be total anarchy.

Moominsarescary · 03/09/2012 16:14

Sperm and vaginal discharge all over park benches, lovely!

LadyBeagleEyes · 03/09/2012 16:15

And the poo spores Grin

EdithWeston · 03/09/2012 16:17

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

I know: that's why I asked how the law deals with it. In Scotland, it seems they use the law on breach of the peace in a way which leads to incarceration. Would there be guidance on the Procurator(?) on how complaints to the police from the public about nudity should be handled?

Does the DPP issue guidance for England/Wales?

Themumsnot · 03/09/2012 16:18

If you really thought about what might have been on a park bench you would never sit down on one.

Moominsarescary · 03/09/2012 16:18

I think that would put most men off being naked in public, can you imagen walking down the road and suddenly being faced with an erection. How would you know if it was intentional or unintentional.

malinois · 03/09/2012 16:18

This is the Scottish Law being an ass. He walked all the way from Lands End naked without being hassled by the police until he got to Scotland where, instead of recognising him for the harmless loon he is, they banged him up, repeatedly.

Luckily, English police and courts have rather more sense.

higgle · 03/09/2012 16:20

I don't really see why being naked is illegal, afterall it is our natural state and I find it hard to believe we should be shocked by it.

LadyBeagleEyes · 03/09/2012 16:20

I presume he knows this, so why can he not just keep his clothes on until he crosses the border?

LadyClariceCannockMonty · 03/09/2012 16:22

'If we all just decided not to bother with laws that don't suit us it would be total anarchy.'

That rather depends on which laws, I think. In this case he's not harming anyone with any common sense.

I have to say though I was concerned to read recently that the judge talked about his mental state. He could genuinely have mental-health issues, or the courts could have decided that the only reason someone would want to do this is because they have mental-health issues, neither of which are the happiest possibilities.

mercibucket · 03/09/2012 16:23

It is ridiculous to lock someone up for that length of time for 'breach of the peace'. Maybe we are the inspiration for Putin and his heavy handed crackdown on rude singing in churches. I expect quite a few mumsnetters think they ought to lock em up and throw away the key for that as well

AndSuetoo · 03/09/2012 16:28

Roughly speaking laws are established because the consensus of opinion is that certain things are undesirable. Those things can be more serious or less serious but on the whole society agrees that they should not be allowed. Society works because generally we all follow the rules. When someone doesn't follow the rules society takes action against them.

Undeniably walking around naked is something our society has decided is unacceptable. This man knows that. He knows the consequences of his actions but chooses to be naked anyway.

I would have thought that if he had a mental health problem it would have been identified and treated after six years in the prison system.

Personally I can't see why he couldn't accept wearing just a pair of speedos in public. That would lead him to be almost entirely free from the constraints of clothing. Why is exposing his genitals in public so important to him?

As for clothing being a social construct! Doesn't it have quite a lot to do with a need to protect ourselves from the weather?

EnglishGirlApproximately · 03/09/2012 16:28

It does depend on which laws of course, but you can't say that its ok to break some laws and not others. There would be many people who think drink driving laws are wrong, or speed limits, or carrying weapons. He knows that he will be jailed if he continues to do this in Scotland, yet he keeps doing it.

Like I said, I have no issue with him being naked. I don't neccessarily think it should be classed as a breach of the peace, but it is, and he knows that.

NineCrimes · 03/09/2012 16:34

He is breaking the law. Repeatedly. I dont care if it's for nakedness which I have no problem with or for dealing drugs. Why should an exception be made? Where so you draw the line? If he is going to keep doing it despite the law, then I feel no sympathy for him.

As a side note I was watching him on tv when he was travelling with a naked lassie. Twenty minutes in stbxh pipes up, oh that lassie is my ex! Grin she was a bit off nutter too.

Original poster
imonthefone · 03/09/2012 16:35

i didnt realise that everyone was such a pendant for 'the law'

OP posts:
AndSuetoo · 03/09/2012 16:40

Pedant for the law!!! It isn't a rough guide to follow if you feel like it!

Themumsnot · 03/09/2012 16:42

As for clothing being a social construct! Doesn't it have quite a lot to do with a need to protect ourselves from the weather?

In that case an individual would choose to wear clothing only when necessary to protect them from the weather, which would only be on certain days of the year depending on your personal susceptibility to cold, and clothing chosen for that purpose only would probably differ quite signicantly from that generally worn. On a warm wet day, for example, wouldn't it be more practical to be naked as skin dries off more quickly than fabric?

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