Naked before the law

Stephen Gough, also known as the Naked Rambler, may well end up with his very own chapter in Archbold after appearing before some of the UK's leading judges in a complete state of undress.

The persistently nude Gough was once again under judicial scrutiny after arguing that a conviction from October 2014 for breaching an anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) was 'unsafe' because he had not been permitted to stand trial for the original offence absent any attire.

Gough had been arrested shortly after leaving Winchester prison, having just completed a sentence for an earlier breach of his Asbo. Stopped by police outside the prison wearing nothing but his bare skin and trade mark boots, he was once again arrested and charged.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court last year was held in Gough's absence following judge Jane Miller QC's refusal to allow the rambler to appear in the dock stark naked.

He was found guilty in less than 15 minutes by a jury of his fully clothed peers and sentenced to two and a half years in prison by the trial judge.

Appealing his conviction, the ex-marine watched proceedings at the Court of Appeal via a live video link and was seated without a stitch on behind a large table in prison - if not for his own modesty then for that of the judges of appeal in London.

Giving the court's judgment, Lady Justice Rafferty said: 'Were the defendant to have appeared naked in front of the court it would have been a further breach of the antisocial behaviour order.'

'He did not have the right to participate in the trial while not wearing clothes,' she added.

Gough has already spent most of the last eight years in prison - much of which in solitary confinement, according to Frances Cook, CEO of the Howard League for Penal Reform.

Now that stretch looks likely to continue following his latest legal setback, but whether or not prison is the best place for Gough is open to argument.

As barrister Matthew Scott wrote last year: '[Gough] has chosen to look ridiculous. The law is making itself look ridiculous.'

Or as solicitor and legal blogger David Allen Green recently tweeted, the Naked Rambler's case 'exposes the illiberal daftness of our legal system'.