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Is it illegal to walk around in the UK naked?
I was just wondering as I have just watched an episode of Balls of Steel and on one of the sections there is a guy called 'The Naked Man' and he walks around wearing only shoes, a backpack and a hat.
Is it then legal for me to walk outside with shoes and a hat on and it be legal?
2 years ago
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British Naturism
British Naturism
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There is no law against being naked in public in the UK.
The only law that specifically mentions "exposing the genitals" is section 66 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (first link). For this offence to have been committed it has to be proved that you did so "intending that someone will see them and be caused alarm or distress". So the classic 'flasher' commits this offence, but a Naturist does not. Indeed, the peers who drafted this law are on record as saying that they did not wish to make Naturism illegal. This law replaced the old Victorian law of 'Indecent Exposure' which therefore no longer exists, despite the frequency with which the media and public claim that it does!
There is a common law offence of "Outraging Public Decency", but it has been established that "Outrage" is a strong term and simple nudity is not sufficient to commit this offence.
That should be an end to it, but sadly there is a law, originally added to the statute books to control riots and riotous behaviour, called "Harassment, alarm or distress" - section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 (second link). This law was not aimed at nudity, but is so open to interpretation that it can and has been used by the police and CPS to bring charges against people for anything they have a personal prejudice against. How simple nudity fits into "using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour" defeats me. Being naked is a state of dress, not a behaviour. Of course it is possible to behave badly when naked, but that has nothing to do with being naked, we can all behave well or badly whatever our state of dress. The other half of this law is all about displaying signs that are threatening, abusive or insulting, so seems even further from relevance.
We (BN) are not the only organisation to be challenging this law at the moment (third link - click through to read our actual response).
The usual pattern that seems to occur, when it does, is that a Naturist is arrested (often by an off-duty policeman), then when no law is found to use against the Naturist, the police fall back on s5 POA in order to 'save face'. They will offer a Caution, which sounds like a mild ticking-off, but despite its name actually gives you a criminal record! We advise our members not to accept a Caution because of this. They then charge the 'offender' with s5 POA. Magistrates will sometimes uphold this conviction. If the 'offender' appeals, the CPS will usually then drop the case; we have to assume this is because they know that a crown court will normally allow the appeal because it is a clear abuse of this law. Sadly this means that cases never reaches a high enough court to create case law, so the police and CPS can continue to use s5 to harass Naturists!
I'm sorry the answer was not simple, but I have to tell it as it is! On the plus side, we have a statement from the Metropolitan Police that public nudity is not illegal. This was made after they mistakenly asked a naked 'performer' on Anthony Gormley's "4th Plinth" project to dress in 2009. They also later apologised to said 'performer'. The many naked bike rides that take place around the country every year as part of the "World Naked Bike Ride" - often with police escorts - also serve to show that no offence exists when the police have the time to check the law before they act.
A woman is free to walk around naked all day if she so wishes, as nothing is exposed and they can legally breast feed in public
Source(s):
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003…
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986…
http://www.bn.org.uk/campaigning/respons…
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