On a day when most people were only too happy to wrap up against the cold weather, the veteran nudist Vincent Bethell walked from court a free and naked man after being cleared of causing a public nuisance. In what must classify as one of the most peculiar cases in English legal history, Mr Bethell wore not a stitch during the five-day trial and the ladies of the jury were warned to look away when he walked from the dock to the witness box to give evidence.

Campaigner Vincent Bethell was today cleared of causing a public nuisance by demonstrating naked in the streets.
The 28-year-old artist's battle for the right to go naked has already cost him a four-month stay in a segregation wing at Brixton jail.

He has refused to wear clothes since 13 August and during a five-day Southwark Crown Court trial he remained naked - his private parts hidden by the wooden frame of the dock.
When the jury decided that Bethell, of Coventry, had not caused a moral outrage, he shouted in triumph: "Being a human being is not a crime."

The court heard that he went naked in public in London and Bristol over five weeks last summer, and that his "Freedom to be Yourself" campaign began in 1997. He said: "People have the right to go fully clothed. I should have the right to walk around naked." He said he hadn't caused outrage - people were interested in his point of view, or they smiled.

But Judge George Bathurst-Norman warned him: "I would not go away too much with that idea.

"It is simply not a public nuisance in these circumstances."

Mr Bethell, who has repeatedly been arrested for his nudity, has spent the last five months in solitary confinement at south London's Brixton Prison because of his refusal to wear clothes.

He left the court carrying a bag of clothes, shivering as he spoke to reporters outside in near-zero temperatures.

"This is a great decision, it is great progress," he said.

"On the other occasions I have been convicted by magistrates, but this is the first time I have been tried by members of the public. The jury trial is so important for justice."

He said he would continue his campaign and hoped the jury's verdict would send a "strong message" to the police and Crown Prosecution Service that nakedness in public was not a crime.

But prosecuting lawyer Orlando Gibbons, also speaking after the trial, said nudity in public would remain a crime until there was a change in the law.

Standing with Mr Bethell outside court was fellow nudist, Edward Pope, 52, of Oxford, wearing nothing but woolly gloves and socks.