Stephen Gough had his own Groundhog Day this week. Photo: Carly Lesser and Art Drauglis CC-BY-SA-2.0

He missed Groundhog Day by a week or so, but Stephen Gough’s own version of a recurring nightmare continued this week with another jail sentence.

The man dubbed the Naked Rambler is back behind bars after a sheriff sentenced him to 21 months in prison for a breach of the peace and contempt of court. He was jailed for 12 months for his breach of the peace, three months for contempt of court and 180 days were added from his previous sentence.

As sure as Punxsutawney Phil’s appearance from his Pennsylvania burrow foretells the coming or otherwise of spring, so Gough’s popping out of the prison gates ensures his immediate arrest by officers from Tayside Police. His refusal to wear clothes has brought him a warning that he may spend the rest of his life in jail.

It was a point he conceded in his latest appearance before Sheriff Lindsay Foulis at Perth Sheriff Court this week when he told him: “A number of your recent convictions have arisen in similar circumstances. If I impose a custodial sentence then in so many months time a similar scenario will arise.”

The latest sentence follows Gough’s conviction after police arrested him outside Perth jail last December. The 50-year-old refused to put on clothes and found himself immediately locked up.

The former Royal Marine’s crusade to walk naked through Britain has always met fiercest opposition from the legal establishment in Scotland, which has more restrictive laws on nudity than England and Wales.

He has twice managed to complete a walk from Land’s End to John O’Groats, but only after frequent arrests.

So, for Stephen Gough and Punxsutawney Phil, it will be some time before they are once again the centre of public attention as they cast their shadow on the outside world. And for one of them, it is fairly certain the police will again be waiting.