Steven Gough, a 53-year-old hiker who spent most of the past six years in jail for refusing to wear clothes, was released today from Perth Prison in Scotland yesterday because of a change in police policy.

Gough is very serious about nakedness. The former Royal Marine and truck driver first made headlines in 2003 when he walked cross-country from Land’s End to John O’Groats in the buff.

Obviously, he was arrested. But, still, he refused to cover up.

Gough then attempted to repeat the feat in 2005-2006 with his girlfriend Melanie Roberts. He was arrested more than 20 times, including once in court for appearing naked in front of a judge.

Gough had been in jail pretty much ever since 2006 for wearing only his signature beard and boots, although in July 2009 he was released for about 30 seconds before being arrested, once again, for insisting on remaining ‘natural’ in public.

On Tuesday, after a change to police policy, he was finally released. He walked out of jail in his birthday suit once again. This time, however, he was allowed to go free.

“My opinion is that the police have thought, The guy’s not going to give up, so let’s have a think about it,” said Gough.

Whatever the reason, I think it’s awesome. It’s ridiculous to imprison a person just because he likes to let his johnson swing when he walks. Nudity should be a right to anyone who chooses it, though, personally, I think there’s be more support for the idea if we had a more olympians choosing it and fewer bearded old men.

Lead image is by La Tête Krançien and is for illustrative purposes only. That man is NOT Steven Gough. Gough’s picture can be seen here. 

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