Naked rambler's longest sentence

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A man known as the naked rambler has received his longest sentence yet for refusing to put his clothes on.

Stephen Gough, 50, was jailed for 21 months after being found guilty of breaching the peace and being in contempt of court.

Gough turned down an offer of freedom if he got dressed - and was warned he could spend many more years in prison.

The former Royal Marine, from Eastleigh in Hampshire, has been behind bars for much of the past seven years.

He was jailed for a year for walking naked in Perth after being freed from prison, and for a further three months for contempt for conducting his trial in the nude.

It doesn't need an expert in crystal ball gazing to anticipate that if I impose a custodial sentence then in so many months time a similar scenario will arise Sheriff Lindsay Foulis

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis also added the 180 days he had left to serve when he was released midway through his previous 12-month sentence last December.

On the past two occasions when he has been freed from jail, officers from Tayside Police were waiting at the jail gates to rearrest him.

Sheriff Foulis told Gough the same process was likely to occur "again and again and again".

"A number of your recent convictions have arisen in similar circumstances," he said.

"You have more or less been apprehended when you have been released from prison.

"I suppose it doesn't need an expert in crystal ball gazing to anticipate that if I impose a custodial sentence then in so many months time a similar scenario will arise."

Gough told Perth Sheriff Court he accepted it was "potentially" the case that he could remain in jail forever - apart from the few seconds of freedom he enjoys every six months or so.

He denied his nakedness was a breach of the peace or an affront to the court.