And after resolutely refusing to put clothes on, he appeared before magistrates at the Warwickshire Justice Centre in Leamington the following day wearing just his socks.

Gough, aged 53, of Chamberlain Road, Eastleigh, Hampshire, pleaded not guilty to using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour.

His solicitor, Mark Parry, said then that previously his client had run arguments under human rights legislation that he should be allowed to walk around naked. But most of his previous court appearances had been in Scotland, where he was jailed for five months in September but released in October, rather than under English law.

However, the day before he was due to return to the court to stand trial, his solicitors were told he need not attend because the charge against him was being dropped because of insufficient evidence.