"Rambler" Back in Slammer

This guy is just an unbalanced exhibitionist, and no hero to naturism...

12 April 2007
NAKED SHOCK FOR TAXI DRIVER

A TAXI driver got an eyeful when the Naked Rambler tried to hitch a ride in his cab.

Ex-marine Stephen Gough had just been cleared of breach of the peace at Edinburgh Sheriff Court when he asked Callum Watt to give him a lift to Saughton Prison.

The 47-year-old naturist, who has been convicted of exposing himself in public eight times, was rearrested moments later.

Watt, 44, from Edinburgh, told of his shock when Gough jogged up to his taxi while he was dropping off an elderly passenger in the Grassmarket around 5pm.

The cabbie said: "I actually recognised the guy straight away - facially. When I asked him where he kept his money, he didn't answer and again asked for a lift.

"I said if he had a pair of shorts then he could sit quite happily in my taxi but otherwise, no."

A crowd had gathered, with some taking pictures of Gough on their mobile phones.

A police van was parked nearby and Gough walked straight over and got in it.

Watt said: "I would have liked to talk with the chap.

"In five years I would say he is the strangest passenger that's ever tried to get in my taxi. It certainly brightened my day up."

Police said Gough was arrested, charged with breach of the peace and kept in custody.