THE man dubbed the Naked Rambler appeared in court yesterday accused of walking nude near a children's play park – just six days after he was released from jail.

Stephen Gough was arrested by Fife Constabulary officers on the edge of Townhill, outside Dunfermline, Fife, on Friday after complaints by locals.

He spent the weekend in custody before appearing at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court – again unclothed – last night amid tight security.

Gough, a former Royal Marine, did not arrive at the court until 4.35pm.

It is alleged that Gough – who earned his nickname by walking unclothed from Land's End to John O'Groats after quitting his job as a lorry driver – conducted himself in a disorderly manner in the village's Cairncubie Road on Friday, just days after he was released from prison.

Gough, 53, who gave an address in Eastleigh, Hampshire, denied the charge at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Mungo Bovey, QC, said: "You are charged with a breach of the peace in Dunfermline on July 20. What is your attitude to that charge?"

He replied not guilty but was remanded until the start of his trial on August 23.

Gough has spent most of the past six years in solitary confinement at HMP Perth. Last August he was jailed for 657 days for breach of the peace and contempt of court.